Good Morning and welcome to the podcast. This is Season 2, Episode 7 and today we are talking about ministry during uncertain times. I have struggled this week to stay focused on everything. I am used to working from home. I home school my kids here too and have for the past nine years. I should be used to this right? Well I just feel so distracted…

Good Morning and welcome to episode six of Season 2 at Steps Talk. Today we sit down with a gifted ministry leader and teacher Miranda Wallace. Miranda is new to the Steps Care board and has such a heart for this ministry. We are excited to see what she brings to the table. Miranda has a heart for adoptive/foster families. We look forward to see wh…

Hello Welcome back to the podcast this is Episode 5 of Season 2. Today we talk about the importance of providing disability ministry training that is inspiring! Often times I only hear and see the negative presented at ministry training's. Maybe I'm attending the wrong conferences? LOL Today on the podcast we will be talking about the need to bring…

Welcome to Season 2's Episode 4 as we talk about the importance of building a team. I think the best teams are the diverse teams. Getting others involved no matter the age, or ability. We are seeing beautiful things in the special needs ministry that we have at our church in Rogers, AR. Student volunteer, Chariti was a huge support yesterday. The s…

Welcome every one. Happy Martin Luther King Day. What an inspiring man Martin Luther King was. Here are a few of my Favorite quotes from Martin Luther for you in honor of today.“The function of education is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically. Intelligence plus character that is the goal of education.”“Change does not roll in …

Welcome to Steps Talk. This is our second podcast of the second season. Today is my first day back to school for the second semester. The first week of one of my classes is covering the history of autism. I'm not sure why I didn't already know this. I guess I didn't feel the need to know the history. I have been living in the here and now since day…

Thank you for joining us for our first episode in 2020. This is our second season of Steps Talk. We look forward to the great conversations we will have during this season. Today we catch up with our listeners. We have added new board members to our team at Steps Care. We can't wait for you all to meet John and CarolAnne Farr and Miranda Wallace. W…

Professor Nancy Norris is someone everyone should meet. Her laughter lights up the room. This year she approached the President of Urshan Bible College about starting a class that she has titled, "Ministering to Children with Special Needs." She created the curriculum for the course from scratch. Professor Norris has invited ministry leaders to com…

Welcome to Episode 29. On today's podcast we can't wait for you to hear this mother's story of adoption that has brought her to the beginnings of a disability ministry in her faith community in Northern California. Eva called us after reading Steps, Forming Disability Ministry by Shelli Allen and Dr. Linda Barboa with questions about what a "disabi…

Audra Uzzell joined our board at Steps Care a few months ago. Audra is a teacher at the Phelps Center in Springfield, MO where she teaches 6th grader in the scholar program. Audra teaches students who are gifted. During this conversation, Audra talks about how her students have inspired her. Audra's passion for advocacy is contagious. We talked abo…

Audra Uzzell joined our board at Steps Care a few months ago. Audra is a teacher at the Phelps Center in Springfield, MO where she teaches 6th grader in the scholar program. Audra teaches students who are gifted. During this conversation, Audra talks about how her students have inspired her. Audra's passion for advocacy is contagious. We talked abo…

Welcome to episode 26. Today we are talking about self care. Our title for this episode was inspired by a book called, Leaders Eat Last by Simon Sinek click here to get your copy. It's a great read and I hope that you will check it out. When you are in a ministry that is a high need or you are someone serving a high need group or job, you will unde…

This is Episode 25 and it is Monday July 15th. Today I will introduce to you my good friend Elizabeth. Today Liz and I talk about the impact she had on my life as a new mom facing a new diagnosis of autism and how her response was so helpful during a time of so much uncertainty for me. We talk quite a bit during this conversation about her experien…

Welcome to Episode 24. This is Monday, July 8th. Today I have a great conversation to share with you. I sat down with a good friend to talk about a challenge that has been a long time struggle between faith communities and those impacted with disability. Dr. Robert Jason Grant is the creator of AutPlay therapy and travels all over the world trainin…

Good Morning!! Welcome to Steps Talk, this is episode 23 and today we talk about some tips for preparing students for the holiday events taking place this week. Practice makes perfect will seem like the theme of this episode. Thinking about students with developmental and sensory disabilities. The 4th of July can add some anxiety and overwhelming f…

Good morning It's June 24th and today on Steps Talk we are talking about Classroom Management. There is so much more to say about this topic, but here is the start of a great conversation. How do your students shape the climate in your classroom? How does knowing each student play a role in how you manage your classroom? We want to hear from you th…

Welcome to episode 21 here at Steps Talk. We had a wonderful Father's day weekend! So much going on around here at Steps Care. This week we Talk about our trip to Linn Creek, MO to Rock House Church. We provided a Leadership Sensitivity Training as well as a Forming Disability Ministry Training. What a great group of loving, caring, and kind people…

Welcome to Episode 20! It is Monday, June 3rd and today we are gearing up for Father's Day!! We think Dad's are pretty incredible! Today I share some personal stories about how my husband connected with our children who have special needs. Sometimes Dad's get a bad rap. Being the ones that leave when things get hard. We want you to know that this i…

So this week we ask you all, What would church camp, VBS, or other religious summer time events look like if your family could go. Some of our families impacted by disability have talked about how they feel left out when summer comes along. We want to know what accommodations would your family need in place to make camp or VBS something that you co…

Welcome to Episode 18. We are reflecting on Mother's Day. Today, Shelli read the poem by Emily Perl Kingley called, "Welcome to Holland". Here is the external link: www.our-kids.org/Archives/Holland.html We would love to encourage you to read it for yourself. Also we talk about our Fun T-shirt fundraiser. Please help support our mission by getting …

This week we talk about reasons to get involved at Steps Care. We are a collaborative organization that loves networking and building strong communities while we inspire faith communities to engage in disability ministry. We love meeting new friends as we grow support for individuals impacted by disability in faith communities. Our impact is reachi…

Welcome to Episode 16 as we talk with Elise at DotCom Therapy. Dot Com has partnered with us at Steps Care as a professional support for families and faith communities. If you are needing a consult or are looking for therapy services email them at theteam@dotcomtherapy.com to learn more about the services they provide go to their website at DotComT…

Hey! Welcome the Episode 15. You all get me this week. I'm all alone on this weeks podcast. We are recapping our month of incredible guest. We also share about some opportunities to come see us out and about in the community. We will be at the Expo Center in Springfield, MO this week. All day Thursday and all day on Friday you can stop in and say h…

Jan Luck has created an excellent children's book series with co author Dr. Linda Barboa. Functional Character Albert has autism and he is non- verbal. Through the stories Albert teaches us about how to be to be a friend. Albert is My Friend can be found on Amazon. Among the other in the series mentioned in this weeks episode. Raspberry Noodles was…

Welcome to Episode 13. My guest is a friend and advocate to many. She walked into my life when our first child introduced us to the world of autism. Elizabeth Obrey is a family advocate at the Arc of the Ozarks. She serves on many boards as a parent advocate. She is the vice president at Stars for Autism. She has 5 beautiful children. Our children …

Welcome to Episode # 12 as we talk Autism with Dr. Linda Barboa. Dr. Linda is the co author to the book Steps: Forming Disability Ministry. She is the founder of Stars for Autism. She is a speech and language pathologist . Dr. Linda has taught in Universities in the States and in Europe. She is the author of several books and serves as alderman in …

This week we visited with Melanie Stinnett from Thera Care in Springfield, MO. Melanie shared information about the services she is providing there in Springfield, MO. We talked about faith communities utilizing professionals in the community to better serve students in their programs. Melanie told us about some parent training opportunities throug…

We look at perspective from 2 sides of Attendance challenges. We look at why families miss and how faith communities mange volunteer involvement when students are absent. If you have ideas you would like share about Attendance challenges email us at talk@stepscare.org. You can now hear Steps Talk on Apple Podcast now!!! Join us next week when we ta…

Spring break may not feel like a vacation for the families that we serve. School is an environment of predictability and routines and at spring break our student don't have that support. Is it possible to look at this as an opportunity to serve our families and minister during Spring Break. We talk about Amazeum in Bentonville, AR. We talk about ac…

We advocate for every other need in our life, why not advocate for our needs in our faith communities. Today on the podcast, episode #8 we talk about why we think it is important to advocate for support within our faith communities. Advocate sounds like such an intimidating word, but really it is just a form of communication. It's communicating our…

Episode #7 Supports during the winter months!! Our students need movement. Listen in this week as we talk about ways that we can help our students with body regulations. Check out the book I mentioned called Positively Sensory by my friend Dr. Amy Vaughn Who is my “go to” expert Occupational Therapist. Here is the link I promised Positively Sensory…

Welcome to Episode #6 at the podcast!! We continue this week talking about marriages. This is February and throughout the month we have focused on marriages and parenting children with Special Needs. This week we talk with Melinda Tibbits. Melinda is on our our board at Steps Care and serves as our community relations director. You can most often s…

Today is Monday, February 11th. This is episode #5. Today Shelli talks about sensory as a mode for communication. Thank you to everyone who stopped by our booth at the National Children’s Conference in Biloxi, MS. It was so awesome meeting all of you. Children’s Ministers know how to have fun. 😁 My home church has started a Special Needs Ministry i…

It’s Monday February 4th, Episode number 4. Shelli introduces us to her husband Patrick. They talk about Parenting children with disability and how the church can help. Shelli references an article by Bill Healey called, “ Helping Parents Deal with the Fact that their Child has a Disability.” Article was published in the Council for Exceptional Chi…

What is Disability Ministry look like? What is Disability Ministry? We believe it is a tool that helps faith communities to be intentional about including everyone in ways that are meaningful to the people we serve. Accommodations aren’t just about wheelchair ramps or larger stalls. These are accommodations, but there is so much more we can do to s…

Today we share our interview with Mrs Sarah Doss at Wonderfully Made (Psalms 139:14) a First Baptist Church ministry. The address for First Baptist church is 202 Walnut St, West Plains, MO 65775. To call and set up a ride or to ask about this ministry contact Sarah at (417)256-3128. To learn more about what we do at Steps Care feel free to check ou…

Welcome to the podcast. Today we are starting off with an introduction from our executive director Shelli Allen. My voice is almost gone. I’ve been nursing a cold. 😁 For more information about the trainings we provide email us at training@stepscare.org Check out our website at Stepscare.org If you have ideas for future podcast topics email us at ta…