When young people with additional needs reach 18 life gets tough - Lynn McCann thinks there are easy steps to take that help
When inclusion suddenly stops
A question appeared recently in the Additional Needs Alliance Facebook group:
“How do we accommodate an 18-year-old with additional needs who still fits best with the 8–11s group? Now he’s 18, leadership says it’s a safeguarding issue and he can’t stay.”
Inclusion isn’t a programme or a trend, it’s discipleship
It’s a question that reveals several worrying assumptions. First, that this young man suddenly became a safeguarding risk the moment he turned 18. Second, that he should now be able to cope in adult church services when nothing about his developmental needs has changed overnight. And third, that he has nothing to offer his church community.
Safeguarding is essential, but equating disability or developmental delay with risk is not safeguarding — it’s ableism. It shows how unprepared many churches are to support young people with additional needs once they age out of children’s ministry.
The inclusion journey so far
Many congregations are becoming more aware of children with additional needs. I hear from families who are joining churches where Sunday school teams are learning to adapt lessons, create sensory spaces, and offer visual supports. But any progress with children with additional needs is short sighted unless churches are thinking about them growing up. What happens when those same children become teenagers? Children with additional needs will become adults with additional needs, and these crucial teenage years are a transition that I don’t see many people really considering.
While their peers head to college and university, jobs and independence, young people with additional needs face new isolation
Fifteen years ago, I supported an autistic 15-year-old boy in our church youth group. The sessions were intense, with lots of fast paced games with complex rules, Bible reading and discussion. I tried to adapt the sessions for him, when I was given the information in advance. I made visuals, I simplified questions and begged the leaders to find ways to include him in the discussions; but he still sat apart, obvious only by the presence of an adult helper, rarely included in group conversations. After a few months, he stopped coming.
At the Keswick Convention this year, our Count Everyone In team met some teens with learning disabilities who ended up in our adults with learning disabilities sessions because the youth programme wasn’t accessible for them. These are not isolated stories. Do you have a teenager with additional needs that cannot access what other teenagers in your church are involved in, including festivals, Christian camps and youth events?
The transition cliff
The teenage years can feel like a cliff edge. While their peers head to college and university, jobs and independence, young people with additional needs face new isolation. The end of school can mean the end of structure and community. Parents continue to fight for services and support while their young people navigate benefits, healthcare, lack of support and social barriers.
Church should be a refuge, a community that recognises their gifts and offers belonging. Instead, some hear: “He’s too old for children’s work,” “She won’t manage youth group,” “We don’t have the volunteers.”
Above all, inclusion should be embraced as a mindset
An 18-year-old who enjoys Lego or group songs should be seen as an asset, not a problem. My advice to the question I started this article with was simple: make him an honorary leader. DBS-check him, offer accessible safeguarding training (using easy read materials), and invite him to help lead sessions. Let him build a Lego model others can add to or choose a favourite song. Give him dignity, belonging and purpose; that’s discipleship in action.
Lessons from inclusive youth ministry
The Fuller Youth Institute article, Refusing to Ignore Teenagers with Special Needs (2016) offers practical insight into how churches can make youth ministry more accessible for teens with additional needs in church. Its research identifies several principles that enable churches to create a truly inclusive youth ministry. It is essential to foster open communication and trust with parents, prepare teens with additional needs by providing predictability and clear information, set out explicit expectations for group activities, and actively encourage meaningful peer relationships. Above all, inclusion should be embraced as a mindset, recognising and valuing each young person’s unique qualities and ensuring they feel accepted and supported within the church community.
Different paths, same belonging
Author Sandra Peoples, in Accessible Church: A Gospel-Centered Vision for Including People with Disabilities and Their Families (2021), identifies three approaches for including neurodivergent teens:
- Full inclusion: adapting the main youth group with necessary supports.
- Separate spaces: creating a dedicated group tailored to specific needs.
- Reverse inclusion: building an additional-needs-friendly group and inviting neurotypical peers to join, fostering mutual learning.
Each model has strengths. The key is flexibility and collaboration — asking, Where will this young person best hear, understand and respond to the gospel?
Stories of growth and faith
Katie Budd from Through the Roof described her work at Spring Harvest supporting teenagers with additional needs:
“It’s about giving young adults the opportunity to be young adults — to exercise choice and control over which parts of the programme they want to access.”
With that freedom and support, she’s seen people grow from anxious observers to confident worshippers dancing with friends by week’s end. The joy doesn’t come from forced participation but from respect, relationship and choice. That’s inclusion at its best — and it mirrors Christ’s way of meeting people where they are.
Read more:
Autism, meltdowns and shutdowns – practical advice for Christian parents
Rethinking disobedience when your child has ADHD
3 things additional needs Christian dads need to know
Moving forward with hope
Research on what happens to disabled or neurodivergent young people after children’s ministry is still scarce, but we don’t need to wait for data to act. Churches can start today by:
- Asking their teens with additional needs what they want and helping them discover their God-given gifts and ministries.
- Training youth workers in neurodiversity and disability awareness.
- Providing sensory-friendly spaces within youth programmes.
- Using visuals, different forms of communication such as signing, flexible teaching and predictable structure.
- Celebrating disabled young people’s gifts publicly and often.
Inclusion isn’t a programme or a trend, it’s discipleship. It’s the Church living out the truth that every member of the body is needed. When we embrace that mindset, no young person gets lost in transition. Instead, they find belonging, purpose, and a place to grow in faith.
