Northwestern Book Stores' Arbor Lakes Mall location in Maple Grove, Minn., is at the forefront of efforts by Christian retailers and publishers to better serve families with special needs.

The store's events coordinator, Beverly Snyder, and her 23-year-old special needs daughter have brought the topic to the attention of not only the staff, but also customers who attend a monthly special needs support group at the store.

The informal gathering takes place in the store's cafe, where parents share life stories and advice, with Snyder having access to the store's arsenal of materials as the need arises. Serving special needs families in this way provides Christian retailers with an opportunity to emphasize their place as a help station for the local community.

There is heightened awareness of special needs families from both Christian and general market publishers, according to Mavis Sanders, corporate publicist for Tyndale House Publishers. "Awareness (of) and sensitivity to families with special needs are more prevalent topics than they were even a decade ago," observed Sanders, pointing to the work of ministries like Focus, Joni and Friends and Dave Dravecky's Outreach of Hope.

LifeWay Christian Resources provides specially tailored VBS and Sunday school curricula. In addition to personal accounts of special needs issue, publishers have been addressing the topic in fiction-including Amish author Beverly Lewis' recent children's book, In Jesse's Shoes (Bethany House), based on her own experience as the mother of adopted special needs twins, and Karen Kingsbury's Just Beyond the Clouds (Center Street), which features a character with Down's syndrome.

Read the complete article in the Dec. 10 issue of Christian Retailing.