Search results for: Special needs

At Foundation for Jewish Camp (FJC), we believe camp must also reflect the diversity of today’s Jewish community and be accessible for everyone. After our study conducted in 2012-13 found that children with disabilities are significantly underserved by Jewish camp, FJC issued a vision statement for a major disabilities initiative. The overarching goal is to ensure that campers with disabilities and their families experience camp as fully and completely as their typical peers. In 2014, we began securing funding to enhance services at nonprofit Jewish camps across North America for campers with disabilities. One of the major areas identified by the study was the need for trained inclusion specialists and for counselor training focused on serving children with a variety of needs.

The Matan Institute is Matan’s flagship training program for Jewish professionals. An ongoing initiative, it builds upon Matan’s vision to change the landscape of Jewish education and its communal approach to children with special needs. The Matan Institute for Education Directors accepts a maximum of 25 Education Directors who commit to a two-day program at the beginning, and another two days at the end. In between they participate in four webinars that provide additional training, as well as work with an assigned Matan Mentor for ongoing support on a specific inclusion goal.

Next fall, Ilan will be enrolled in The Shefa School, a new Jewish day school created specifically for students with language-based learning disabilities. Shefa (which means “abundance” in Hebrew) will open its doors in September, in space rented from Lincoln Square Synagogue on Manhattan’s Upper West Side. At the moment the school is just empty white rooms, with small, colorful plastic chairs stacked under a drop cloth on the synagogue’s second floor. But Ilana Ruskay-Kidd, the founder and head of Shefa, is excited as she shows a visitor the large balcony that looks over traffic rushing up Amsterdam Avenue and will soon host playground equipment and the congregation’s sukkah.

February 1, 2014 will mark the beginning of the sixth annual Jewish Disability Awareness Month. JDAM is designed to be a unified initiative to raise disability awareness and support efforts to foster inclusion in Jewish communities worldwide. I will share a daily blog post throughout the month of February to help bring awareness to the significant value of including Jews with disabilities in all aspects of Jewish life. I may write a “how-to” or share a success story, I will probably discuss an experience or two as they unfold, and I might reflect on a struggle or a goal not yet met. I may even introduce a guest post or two. And I would love for you to join me.