Ephphatha! Open Up! a Children's Curriculum for Understanding Disabilities

Ephphatha! Open Up! is a series of thirteen lessons to help children accept persons with disabilities and treat them with compassion. Stories, skits, games, and role-playing enhance students' understanding of those with physical handicaps, including blindness and hearing impairment, and those with learning disabilities.

Each lesson can be used individually or in random order for Sunday school classes, retreats, kids' clubs, or fellowship gatherings with intergenerational settings. The goal of this curriculum is to challenge young people to understand, accept, and value the special gifts given to us as children of God. Both children and adults will benefit from these presentations as they become aware that God loves each person individually, no matter how different they may be from one another. The lessons for this series were prepared by The Disabilities In Ministries Committee of the North Indiana Conference of the United Methodist Church and includes the following contributors: Carol and David Black, Galveston; Rev. Sherrie Drake, Muncie; Rev. Robert Jarboe, Huntington; Dr. Ralph Karstedt, Bremen; Verna Neigigh, Bremen; Rev. Tim Powers, Morocco; Dr. Joe Smith, Kentland; and Betty Stewart (Chairperson), Plymouth.