Matthew Allen, nine, sits between his twin sister, Erika, and teacher Sari Manor Cohen while they play a game about Israel with his classmates at Temple Beth Shalom in Livingston.
Matthew, who is autistic, splits his time at school between participating with his peers in class and working one-on-one with a teacher in the resource room.
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February 12, 2009
This year, for the first time, February is National Jewish Disabilities Awareness Month. To mark the month, NJJN is publishing a series of articles on special-needs families and programs. Last week: Synagogue inclusion communities. Next week: The WAE (Wellness, Arts & Enrichment) Center of the Jewish Service for the Developmentally Disabled of MetroWest.
On Thursday afternoons, Amy Albin, 10, of Morris Plains has a quick snack after school and then rushes off to religious school with her siblings and peers. She learns about the holidays and the Hebrew language and sings in the youth choir. But Amy’s books are different from the rest of the students’. Hers have all been translated into Braille, provided by the Jewish Braille Institute.
Her mother, Mary Ellen Albin, flatly rejected the idea of placing Amy, who is blind, but otherwise no different from her peers, in the community special-needs program, B’tzelem, housed at Morristown’s Temple B’nai Or, their congregation.
“Amy is in regular education at school. Although she uses a resource room for certain subjects, intellectually and emotionally she’s at the same level as her peers. I wanted her in a regular classroom,” said Albin.
Meanwhile, at Temple Beth Shalom in Livingston, nine-year-old Matthew Allen sits with his fellow students in a circle as the synagogue’s Israel emissary, Maya Szabo, engages them in a game.
Matthew, who is on the autism spectrum, is among the first to raise his hand when Szabo asks what they might see if they were to travel to Israel. He sits between his twin sister, Erika, and “Morah Sari” — his teacher, Sari Manor Cohen — alternately listening and squeezing the ball he holds in his hands.
After a while, he signals to the teacher that he wants to get up. Together, they quietly walk across the room to a computer, where he dons headphones and works on a Hebrew lesson. The other students don’t seem to notice and continue with the lesson.
Both Amy and Matthew reflect a local trend in synagogue religious schools across Morris, Essex, and Union counties: inclusion of children with any variety of disabilities in mainstream classrooms with their peers.
At least 15 local synagogues now offer some kind of inclusion program in their religious schools, an alternative to community programs like B’tzelem — a self-contained program that offers one-on-one attention, a special-needs teacher, aides, and shadows — and JCC MetroWest’s Children’s Education Program for Special Needs, the successor to what was formerly known as Yaldeinu.
Most directors of school education programs who responded to questions from NJJN view the inclusion of all member families as a critical part of their mission, no matter the disability of the child.
“Our overarching philosophy is that every child is entitled to an education at our school,” said Melissa Weiner, director of the religious school at Morristown Jewish Center Beit Yisrael. “If I turn synagogue members away who want their children in my school with their peers, what message am I sending? We may need to do more work behind the scenes, but I’ll never say no.”
As these students join regular classrooms in increasing numbers, corresponding enrollment in alternative community-wide programs is dropping.
B’tzelem, for example, which averaged 10 students a year since its inception in 2001, now has just five students enrolled, and the number shrinks every year, according to director David Iskovitz. In addition to B’nai Or, B’tzelem is also offered at Congregation Agudath Israel in Caldwell.
“I think this is a transitional moment for B’tzelem; its moment is passing,” said Iskovitz.
Amy Albin, 10, uses Braille versions of the text used by fellow students in her class at Temple B’nai Or in Morristown.
Photo courtesy Temple B’nai Or
The trend toward inclusion mirrors what is happening nationally, said Susan Wachsstock, executive director of Matan, a national Jewish organization that focuses on special-needs inclusion. She called the trend “thrilling” because “for so long, they were told there is no place for them in the community or in the synagogue.”
Wendy Dratler, a special education consultant and former director of the now defunct Jewish Education Association of MetroWest Center for Special Education, estimates that 20 percent of the congregational school population has learning disabilities, yielding two-three children with learning disabilities in every religious school class. Her numbers reflect statistics in the general community.
And the numbers are rising, due to improved assessment and early intervention, said Dratler.
Part of a community
Schools are embracing children with physical disabilities as well as everything from attention deficit disorder and attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder to obsessive compulsive disorder and autism.
The most sophisticated programs, like the one at Beth Shalom in Livingston, where Matthew Allen is a student, include resource rooms, teachers with certification and/or specific training in special needs, shadows, aides, and special education coordinators. Such schools also offer the ability to tailor programs and curricula to each student’s respective needs and maintain constant communication with parents.
At Beth Shalom, many students have individualized programs, some stay part of the day and leave, and some spend part of the day in the resource room and the rest mainstreamed. Some have shadows and some do not.
“We want to open the door for every Jewish child to learn,” said Leah Beker, Beth Shalom’s educational director. Her learning center started 18 years ago and offers all of the resources above. Still, Beker said, “the most important tool is sensitivity to and empathy for students’ and families’ needs.”
Matthew is the first autistic child the school has enrolled, and Beker rejoices with every success — when he raises his hand in the class to participate, and when he mutters “metzuyan,” congratulating himself in Hebrew when he correctly identifies the common letters in three different Hebrew words on the computer. But Beker does not take credit for his success.
“The board and the synagogue community support me with whatever I need,” she said. She has a budget for teacher training, seven computer terminals in the resource room, two listening centers in the resource room as well as in every classroom, furniture specially built for the needs of youngsters using the resource room, and plenty of updated materials.
Student Jonah Friedman and his volunteer aide, teenager Jordan Gray, do a craft project together at the Summit Jewish Community Center Kitah Alef Shabbat Play program last May. The Summit JCC uses a variety of tools to incorporate special-needs children into its religious school.
Photo courtesy Summit JCC
Parents want their children in their home communities. Matthew’s mother, Michelle, said it would not have been fair to his twin to send her brother to a different religious school “just to accommodate Matthew. And it wouldn’t be fair to us. We’re part of this community and we want to be with our friends in this community when we go to synagogue. And Erika needs to be with her friends from school here in town.”
But not every religious school has the experience, resources, budgets, or training for special-needs students.
Jonathan Woocher, chief ideas officer at Jewish Education Service of North America, said he thinks efforts to create “an inclusive synagogue community, rather than ‘farm out’ those who are special in some fashion, is admirable both morally and educationally. Of course, it means that synagogues must then be prepared to devote the resources to make sure they do right by these young people and their families. If they can’t, then they should be ready to help those families find better options.”
According to a MetroWest Center for Special Education 2000 study, not all teachers in the area have the appropriate training. That study revealed that 16 percent of special-ed staff hold a BA or higher degree; 20 percent have some experience and/or training, and 51 percent had no training. (Thirteen percent did not respond.)
The Center for Special Education, which was closed in 2007 by The Partnership for Jewish Learning and Life, the successor body to the JEA, ran the Sunday-morning Yaldeinu program, serving 12 children with special needs, and the Sylvan Kohn Torah Workshop for adults with developmental disabilities, which was picked up by the Jewish Service for the Developmentally Disabled of MetroWest and is now called the Adult Jewish Education Program. The center also ran a workshop and support group for parents of special-needs youngsters and provided consultants to work with schools.
Plenty of congregations miss the support provided by a centralized agency. The director of the religious school at Congregation Beth Hatikvah in Summit said that ideally, it would be great to have a special-education teacher, “who could facilitate a resource room, and/or work with our special-needs students,” said Nancy Hersh. “I used to rely heavily on [special-needs consultant] Linda Kay at JEA. I do miss not having that resource. Right now we don’t have a large special-needs population, so the cost is a major consideration.”
Like other similarly situated schools, Hersh works with each family on a case-by-case basis to come up with a plan that works.
“We believe firmly in community and want the children, regardless of their special needs, to feel a part of the CBH community. That is our goal. Having said that, though, there are some times when we can’t provide what a child needs, and then we would look for an alternative program or form of education,” said Hersh.
That’s exactly what they should be doing, according to Wachsstock, who worries about schools saying they can handle all children but in reality don’t have the capability or pedagogical tools. “The intentions may be great but they might not always yield the best results for the children and their families. When the child can’t be in the mainstream and is given a tutor, is that child really being accommodated?”
For that reason, she insists synagogue schools ought to continue to support community education alternatives.
Woocher urges congregations to consider a larger question: “whether the synagogue-by- synagogue approach to supplementary education generally is the best approach today.”
The goal is “not to put synagogues out of the education business or create community schools (which have had a mixed record at best), but to take a genuinely systemic approach.” His model might have one school that’s great for autistic kids, for example, while another offers expertise in dealing with dyslexic students.
Since JEA was reorganized and replaced by the Partnership, there has been no central address for special needs in the local Jewish community, but that’s changing. Rebecca Wanatick was hired last fall as community coordinator of Together We Are Able, the inclusion initiative of MetroWest ABLE (see sidebar).
Among her first tasks is to survey special-needs offerings and needs at local synagogue religious schools. Wanatick’s MetroWest ABLE will serve as a kind of clearinghouse for resources or programming, matching families with appropriate programs. Her efforts will lay the groundwork for more centralized support, according to Robert Lichtman, the Partnership’s executive director.
What has she found so far? “The overwhelming needs expressed by all congregations have been: the need for consultation within the classroom to better manage behaviors and provide modifications; curricular modifications for students with special needs; teacher training; bar and bat mitzva modifications for students unable to achieve the typical goals; and additional classroom supports,” referring to aides, mentors, and shadows, she said. “How do they find them? How do they pay for them? How do they train them?”
Lichtman said he plans to publish on the Partnership’s website a list of every program offered at every area synagogue, essentially the results of Wanatick’s survey. He is considering having a stable of special education consultants who will be available to area schools that pay in for the service. He is also exploring offering training on how to identify and manage special-needs children in the classroom. “If I get even five directors to say they are interested, I will do it,” he said.
Finally, if there is enough interest, he will hold a five-session course on special needs in the religious school classroom as part of the Partnership’s regular Moreh Institute in 2010.
Meanwhile, schools with smaller budgets and smaller special education populations are struggling and are turning to outside consultants or members of their own congregations with expertise in special education.
Weiner at Morristown Jewish Center Beit Yisrael — one of the better equipped schools, according to Wanatick, who also teaches there — nevertheless tries to hire teachers who also work at the Calais School, a private special-education school in nearby Whippany. Roughly one third of her teachers have special education training.
And the education directors are learning flexibility. At Congregation Adath Shalom in Morris Plains, special-needs students attend only on Sundays, and they have an extended day. “This is our newest addition, added this September, for children who can’t handle religious school after a full day in secular school,” said director Charlotte Frank. Students spend the first part of the day with their peers in regular classes; after the rest of their classmates leave, they have a light bite and then continue to work one-on-one with the teacher for another hour.
The congregational schools offer what they can, even if, as at Temple Sha’arey Shalom in Springfield, it’s only the opportunity to come to Shabbat services, when the school holds Shabbat school, and participate in having hallah and grape juice and sharing Shabbat with their peers.
Parents are thrilled by such communal gestures. As Mary Ellen Albin said, one reason she enrolled Amy and her two siblings at B’nai Or was director Iskovitz’s response when she said she wanted Amy in a class with her peers.
“He did not bat an eye. He said, ‘Okay, we’ll do whatever we need to do to make it work.’”
Meeting special needs in the day schools
AREA JEWISH DAY schools provide a range of services for their special-needs students.
Joseph Kushner Hebrew Academy/Rae Kushner Yeshiva High School
The Livingston schools host the Sinai programs at the elementary and high school levels.
Sinai Elementary School at Joseph Kushner Hebrew Academy is an elementary and middle school for students in grades one through eight with learning and developmental disabilities. It offers supportive, self-contained classes with a focus on skill development and on challenging students to grow academically, socially, and emotionally.
Maor High School — hosted within Rae Kushner Yeshiva High School — is Sinai’s high school for students with average or above average cognitive ability but who experience academic difficulties. Maor comprises small classes, where students receive individualized instruction, with teaching styles and techniques matched to individual student’s needs. In addition to the SINAI classes, many students benefit from mainstreaming into regular classes. Each year, Maor graduates choose to continue their education in two- and four-year colleges, yeshiva programs in Israel, and technical training programs.
Nathan Bohrer-Abraham Kaufman Hebrew Academy of Morris County
The administration and teachers of the Hebrew Academy of Morris County in Randolph look at each child with special needs individually to determine whether or not the school can support them. Generally, HAMC special-needs students have mild to moderate learning disabilities. The school uses an inclusion model to support students with special needs within the classroom setting. In conjunction with Jewish Family Service of MetroWest and JCC MetroWest, HAMC offers Friendship ABCs, an after-school program to support children who may require social skills training.
Solomon Schechter Day School of Essex and Union
SSDS in West Orange offers academic support for students with learning differences as well as various accommodations for students with physical and other disabilities on a case-by-case basis. Each grade level has a learning specialist equipped to assess individual needs and to offer remedial help in either general studies or Judaic studies, or both. The Essex County Educational Services Commission provides a teacher for students needing help with basic skills in math and reading.
— JOHANNA GINSBERG
Questions for… Wendy Dratler
Special education consultant Wendy Dratler, former director of the now defunct Jewish Education Association of MetroWest Department of Special Education, is now in private practice with Teaching Innovations by Design. In a conversation with NJJN, she outlined some of the biggest challenges facing religious schools and the tools that work in dealing with the most common disabilities found in the schools.
NJJN: What are the biggest challenges synagogue religious schools face as they embrace children in need of special education?
Dratler: Not all parents choose to disclose that their child has a disability out of fear that their child will be stigmatized, denied the social and educational benefits of the mainstream, and/or rejected from the program. Some parents may not be aware of a learning issue. They may be in denial and/or going through the grieving stages of the discovery that their child has a lifelong disability.
In addition, fearing parent reaction may prevent schools from properly identifying and addressing the special education needs of their students. This results in a large drop-out rate. The learning of typical children may also be disrupted when a disproportionate amount of a teacher’s time is spent dealing with what are deemed “behavioral issues” that are really special education issues not appropriately addressed. Teachers may also feel ill-equipped to include children with special needs due to insufficient training and information about the child’s learning needs.
NJJN: What tools and structures, in your experience, yield the most success?
Dratler: Confidential consultation between the parent and a learning consultant enhances parent-school communication and a better understanding of the child’s needs. Group seminars provide direct instruction for the Jewish educator, cantor, rabbi, and school board. I also recommend creating special education advisory boards; teacher, madrichim [counselors], and adult shadow training workshops; sensitization workshops for students; parent support workshops; snapshot Individualized Education Program report cards with goals designed by the parent and school to meet the individual needs of children with special needs; parent-teacher conferences twice each year; information and referral support for educators, parents, and principals; and a supervised movement room within synagogue schools to enable students with sensory issues and fatigue to receive the appropriate sensory input that will allow them to be more alert and attentive in the classroom.
NJJN: What are the most common disabilities found in religious school classrooms?
Dratler: In mainstream settings: attention deficit disorder, attention deficit/hyperactivity, learning disabilities/perceptual disorders (e.g., dyslexia), and sensory integrative disorders.
In self-contained settings: autism spectrum (depending upon the degree and the child’s ability to function in the mainstream setting with supports).
— JOHANNA GINSBERG
‘ABLE’ to be included
UNITED JEWISH Communities of MetroWest NJ last October established MetroWest ABLE — Access, Belonging, & Life Enrichment — a consortium of local professionals and lay leaders that supports individuals and families with special needs. Its goal is to increase their involvement in activities within the Jewish community.
The UJC partner agencies participating in MetroWest ABLE are Jewish Vocational Service, Jewish Family Service, Jewish Service for the Developmentally Disabled, JESPY House, JCC MetroWest’s Special Needs Department, the Friendship Circle, The Partnership for Jewish Learning and Life, NJ Y Camps’ Round Lake Camp, and the Joint Chaplaincy Committee of MetroWest.
Together We Are Able is an inclusion initiative being implemented by MetroWest ABLE. Rebecca Wanatick, who has a master’s degree in special education, is the community coordinator of this initiative. Funding comes from a targeted funding grant from last year’s UJA MetroWest campaign and a donation from the Linda Bunis Haller Foundation.
MetroWest ABLE and its agencies “have been working to provide a wealth of services to those in our community with disabilities,” said Wanatick. “The Together We Are Able inclusion initiative will help provide the awareness of resources and make connections between synagogues, agencies, and families.” She can be reached at 973-929-3129 or rwanatick@ujcnj.org.
— JOHANNA GINSBERG
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