Steps Care: The Talk

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 your t-shirt or if T-shirts aren't your thing then you can leave a donation.  CLICK HERE to get your shirt

If you have questions about this weeks podcast email us at [email protected]. 

Ministry leaders Thank you for being there for Mom's this weekend. Without you they may not have been able to attend services. Make sure you are also finding time to refresh. Mother's day is busy. 

Thanks for joining us this week! We hope you've been INSPIRED!!

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 reaching around the world. We want you to experience this impact with us. Maybe you have a skill that may not be disability related or maybe it is, but you want to know how you can contribute. Check out this weeks episode and send us your resume and tell us how you would like to get involved. Email Shelli at [email protected] or call at 417-763-2705. 

To get your copy of Autism, What the Schools are Missing: Voices for a New Path by Dr. Linda Barboa and Dr. Brenda Bradshaw with contributions from Dr. Temple Grandin and Dr. Stephen Mark Shore Click here. All proceeds of the book goes to Stars for Autism. To find out more about Stars click here

For more information about Steps Care Click here

Have a great week everyone! We hope you've been INSPIRED!

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 [email protected] to learn more about the services they provide go to their website at DotComTherapy.com To comment about today’s episode or to contact us about getting involved with what we are doing here at Steps Care please email us at [email protected] to learn more about what we do here at Steps Go to Stepscare.org Thanks for joining us this week. We hope you’ve been inspired.

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 hey to us. Then on Saturday Morning from 10am to 3pm we will be at the Battlefield Mall in front of JC Penny's next to the Star Buck's. We will have a booth set up for the Autism INFO blast put on by our friends Stars for Autism.  So stop by and let us know that you are listening to the podcast.

This week we also talk about using awareness months to talk to your faith communities collectively about disability and how we can include those with disability in our communities.  We did this not to long ago and well it was a great thing. 

We also talked about our new partners DotCom Therapy. You can check out their great organization at dotcomtherapy.com. We hope to have them on the podcast next week to tell you more details about their incredible organization. You will not want to miss that conversation. Such a cool organization. 

Consider sponsoring Steps Care. Our organization is doing a lot on a very limited budget. We want to do so much more. If you are considering and would like to talk to us more in detail call us at 417-763-2705 or email us at [email protected] 

Thank you all for your support. We hope you all are inspired. 

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 the other children's book we talked about, can also be found on Amazon. Jan is the president of the board at Stars for Autism and she is responsible for  Autism Friendly Training with Elizabeth Obrey and Dr. Linda Barboa.   This was a fun conversation where we talk about bulling and how teaching children to be friends, is good for building great relationships.  For questions about this weeks episode email us at [email protected]. To learn more about Steps Care check out stepscare.org.  Next week we will finish up April's focus on Autism. Stay tuned! We think you'll be inspired!

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 attended Rivendale together for a short period of time.  She is an amazing wealth of information and a huge support to many in the community. Co author of Stars in her Eyes Navigating the maze of Childhood Autism and Tic Toc Autism Clock She is also my really good friend.  I couldn't think of any one person that I would like to have come on the show to help us dissect this topic. Its a bit of a tough  one. I know families have been injured because of miss information around this topic. Because I feel like it is super important to equip ministry leaders and volunteers with an accurate perspective surrounding diagnosis and what some may refer to as "labels". Elizabeth shows such a respect and regard for both sides of this conversation. I think you will take a lot away from this conversation and I know you'll be inspire.   Share your ideas or considering becoming a sponsor of Steps Talk email us at [email protected] Check out all that we offer at Steps Care.

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 Battlefield, MO. I could go on and on. She is an amazing lady and my dear friend. Today she is taking time out of her busy life to start off our month of April podcast revolving around autism. Stay tuned I think you'll be inspired. 

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 through Include Ozarks that you should check out.  We also talked about the success she seen through their Sensory Safe events that I think will inspire you.  If you have questions or comments about this weeks episode please email us at [email protected]  To find out more about what we  do or if you would consider becoming a sponsor at Steps Care please check out our website at Stepscare.org  Come back next week as we kick off our busy month of April Autism Awareness Month. We will start the month off right with a conversation with Dr. Linda Barba. Award winning author and founder and executive director at Stars for Autism.  Dr. Barboa and the team at Stars for Autism are doing amazing things with Autism Friendly Cities initiative. It will be an amazing conversation. You will not want to miss it.  THank you for your support and we hope you have been inspired. 

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 [email protected]. You can now hear Steps Talk on Apple Podcast now!!! Join us next week when we talk about how to plan for a Sensory Safe Easter egg hunt. Have a great week!!!

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 accessible parks to check out during Springbreak. If you want to share your ideas with us email us at [email protected].  To learn more about Steps Care check out our website StepsCare.org. Check out our new "ministry resource" page.  There are great downloads there for you.