Learning Hebrew can be a challenge for any religious-school student. But that challenge is magnified when the student has special learning needs.
In fact, at least 10 percent of the 3,500 kids enrolled in East Bay religious schools require some sort of special-needs programming, according to Rabbi Glenn Karonsky.
“That’s a significant number of students, who may feel excluded during religious school” without special programming, said Karonsky, who directs the Center for Jewish Living and Learning of the Jewish Federation of the Greater East Bay.
In response to those needs, the CJLL is boosting its special education programming in East Bay religious schools. A consultation program, a parent support group and a program for developmentally disabled children — all intended to supplement programs already in place at some East Bay religious schools — will begin this fall.
The Jewish Community Foundation of the East Bay federation has provided funding for the programs.
Although CJLL’s special-needs programming was first implemented last year, Karonsky believes this year’s programs, “provided on a more systematic basis,” will reach a wider range of students, as well as their parents and teachers.
For instance, this year the CJLL has hired an additional special education consultant, Linda Kravitz, who along with consultant Ariel Lenchner will provide a variety of services, from working with an entire class or an individual student, to offering a seminar for teachers, parents and principals.
“The individual school will identify a particular problem and then the consultant will work with them to address it,” said Karonsky. “They will also help to better prepare teachers and the schools with how to best deliver educational programming to the special-needs population.”
Lenchner, who specializes in teaching Hebrew to children with special needs, said she will address “whatever questions come my way.”
“Teachers in religious schools are generally not trained and don’t necessarily know how to deal with kids with special needs,” she said. “[We] can provide consults on how to teach these unique kids.”
In addition to enhanced consultant services, the CJLL is creating a parent support group specifically for the parents of special education kids in the religious-school system.
“They will be able to share their particular challenges, questions and suggestions with one another all under the guidance of a credentialed special educator,” said Karonsky. “The idea came about as a collaboration between parents of special-needs children who felt their needs were not being met and CJLL staff.”
The parent support group, under the direction of Kravitz, will meet monthly at the Jewish Community Services building in Oakland.
The CJLL is also pioneering a religious school program for developmentally disabled children, “a population which often goes without attention in the Jewish community,” said Karonsky. He believes that the program’s Jewish emphasis may make it the first of its kind in the East Bay. Programs like these have achieved success in Israel.
Headed by therapist Lynn Young, the program will provide hands-on Jewish art and music projects for children who, because of their disability, cannot attend religious school classes. It will also meet monthly at Jewish Community Services.