A Guide to Helping Your Special Needs Child

Last updated on: November 7, 2019 at 10:23 am by Fr. Matthew P. Schneider, LC

A Guide to Helping Your Special Needs Child 2019-11-07T10:23:34-05:00 Fr. Matthew P. Schneider, LC

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Book cover (fair use)

A few months back I got Spiritually Able: A Parent’s Guide to Teaching the Faith to Children with Special Needs by David and Mercedes Rizzo. They gave me a personally signed copy at an event. The Rizzos, along with their non-autistic son, are the creators of the adaptive sacramental preparation kits, so I was interested.

The book is relatively hands-on giving examples from their life with a non-verbal autistic daughter, Danielle. Most of the book is dedicated to practical matters such as how to get a child to understand Mass, to be able to sit through Mass and to receive the sacraments. In the end, they also mention self-care and taking care of the marriage when they get stretched.

Overall, there explanations I think would be helpful for most parents who have children who struggle with these things. Much of it would not be necessary for other autistics like myself who were perfectly fine mainstreamed for sacramental preparation, etc.

One line stood out to me: “Danielle’s autism has been our greatest challenge in life, but it has also been one of our greatest blessings.” I think this is an important thing to realize. I’m sure sometimes autistic or other special needs kids are more difficult to parent than other kids. However, there is a grace to see beyond that and actually see the blessing in this. God gives certain children to certain parents in order to bless both the parent and the child.

The one thing I find missing is a deeper sense of prayer and direct connection to God. I have noticed this throughout books on autism and Christianity, hence why I am pushing forward to make a book on this topic.

Overall, I would recommend this book. Nothing it said absolutely amazed me, but I think it succeeded in providing a guide for parents to help raise their children with different struggles from other kids.

Note: there is not a huge audience for Catholic Autistic content so I need financial help to post about it. Please consider sponsoring me on Patreon.

Previous Post

October 30, 2019

2 Priests & a Deacon Explain Why We Might Deny Communion

Next Post

November 6, 2019 Entrevista con un sacerdote autista, el P. Matthew Schneider, LC

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Autism Bioethics Book Review Business and Economics Catholic Social Teaching Culture Diocesan Life Disability Discipleship Euthanasia Family Life Genetics Global Politics History Immigration Inspiration Interview Liturgy Moral Theology My Life News Analysis Original Articles Prayer Privacy Pro-Life Science Sexual orientation or identity Social Media Sports Technology Theology Uncategorized US Politics Vatican

Select a Month March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz