Website:
The Lord is blessing our website giving parents from all over the world
hope in Jesus. It is meeting needs, for example, from January to March
‘98 the site had 87,000 hits. We are corresponding and ministering
to many families over the internet via the site and personal email.
E-group:
The PREACCH e-group is an online forum where parents can discuss raising
their autistic children
Prayer
Support: The best we can do for you is pray for you. Each of our families
covenants to pray for the other families in our group. As a family reads
the heart-felt letter of another family, they pray specifically for
that family. God honors these prayers. We also have a world-wide prayer
chain. Call 772-489-3711, ext. 4 (or e-mail PREACCH@bondingplace.com)
and leave your prayer request. We’ll notify prayer warriors across
the world on your behalf. Please note these don’t have to be "emergency
situations."
Prayer
Circles: are groups of five families who pray for each other on a daily
basis. If you would like to be part of a prayer circles, please let
us know.
Spiritual
Affirmation: Unlike so many "programs" that only help with
academics, our group is designed to support you and your child with
your spiritual growth. We share scripture, testimonies, and real life
applications of Truth.
Information
Pool: We seem to all hold "Ph.D.s" on our own child. Collectively
we have read thousands of pages of research material on autism. Among
our members, almost every "method" has been tried. Our families
are faithful to tell us what has worked for them and what has failed,
what was a waste of time and money, and what was vital to their child’s
health, what lifted their souls and what bogged them down. We review
books, tapes, programs and experts. We give addresses and referrals
for those we liked.
Counseling:
Do you need a shoulder to cry on? Do you have a praise? Do you just
want to talk to another family who knows what it is like to dress a
child 18 times before Sunday School? Have others second guessed you
and told you "that if you only disciplined your child more"
your child would behave? Does your family not understand? Has the school
system failed your child? We understand. We offer telephone counseling,
in addition to the newsletter. We have limited hours, so please bear
with us, we do try to return all calls (remember we all are parents
with autistic children).
Lending
Library: "My public library has one book about autism and it’s
thirty years old. Am I really a refrigerator mom?" Our PREACCH
library is growing and we would like to add more volumes and to loan
them to you to read. If you have finished a book and would like to share
it with others, you can share it two different ways: 1) send it to PREACCH
for its lending library, or 2) allow us to add it to our "available
list" so others could borrow it directly from you. If you want
to borrow a particular book, we’ll try to track it down for you.
We ask that you pay the postage of mailing it back and forth and return
it within the allotted time frame. (Page on this site listing
books available to be added soon)
Public
Awareness: Not only has Jill, our founder, spoken out about the blessings
of autism and the Hope in Christ for our children, but several other
members have been spreading the word by volunteering to speak at workshops,
bookfairs, support group and community meetings. If you would like to
host a speaker or to volunteer to speak yourself, please let our ministry
know. We also encourage our members to write articles for local and
national publications. Also, our walking testimony is an encouragement
to others. Many people in public places are curious about autism, the
Lord gives us these opportunities to plant, water, or harvest His Joy.
PREACCH
Letters: No Longer in print. Past issues are available for $4 each.
The backbone
or most visible part of our ministry is our quarterly newsletter. Member
families submit letters. These letters are sources of hope, information,
praises, and prayer requests. Some of the families are "experts"
on nutrition, physical therapy, SAMONAS or AIT/AET, non-traditional
medicine, dealing with the State, behavioral adjustments, spiritual
training, or speech development. We only print letters marked for publication.
Instead of printing the newsletter, we are using this web site and
egroup to met those same needs.
Confidentiality:
Though we have been asked many times to give out our mailing list, we
don’t. We only send the letter to potential PREACCH members (friends
and family). If someone wants us to include their information, we mail
it with the newsletter (they pay the added postage) so our members are
"safe" from solicitation. The directory only goes to families
who have signed a confidentiality agreement and are full participating
members. Listing in the directory is voluntary.
Products:
We offer the best dietary supplements we know of that are on the market
to help these children. We are also developing a line of products for
families hoping through autism including buttons, T-shirts, audio
and video tapes, pamphlets, etc.