Guidebook Published on Caring for Children with Handicaps

What teaching materials are available to help handicapped children better understand the gospel?

Can children with handicaps participate in the ordinances of the priesthood?

Should they be kept at home, or should they be enrolled at an appropriate institution?

Why are children born with handicaps?

Answers to these and many other questions of concern to those caring for a child with handicaps are found in a new Church publication titled Guidebook for Parents and Guardians of Handicapped Children.

The book offers “comfort, understanding, and counsel” to families, said Elder Rex D. Pinegar of the First Quorum of the Seventy, a managing director of the Church’s Curriculum Department. It can help parents plan for their child’s future in the Church and the community and can also be helpful to relatives and friends of those who have children with handicaps. Priesthood and auxiliary leaders should review the guidebook to help them understand and better help those persons with handicaps and their families.

It is recommended that bishops have one or more copies on hand to give to those faced with the challenge of rearing a child with a handicap.

The 89-page publication, stock number PBIC0449, can be ordered from local distribution centers. The cost is $2.95.