Community Outreach Programs
In order to bring educational and developmental intervention to the children who need it most, and ensure that they receive help in a timely manner, Achiya has pioneered a number of early intervention programs.
Achiya professionals run these programs, which take place in municipal kindergartens, Talmud Torah kindergartens, schools and after-school settings.
After school program for children with C.P.
Early identification in kindergartens
Improving language proficiency in pre-school children
Development of educational games
After school program for children with C.P.
Located in the same kindergarten where C.P. (cerebral palsy) children study in the morning, the Achiya after-school program involves an integrated staff including a trained special-education teacher and a number of volunteers. Achiya’s after-school program provides up to twelve children with the support they need to acquire improved functional capabilities in a pleasant atmosphere, while giving parents much-needed support during the afternoons.
With the support of the Bnei-Brak and Holon Municipalities, Achiya operates developmental kindergartens.
These specialized learning frameworks are geared toward four- to six-year-old children who have normal cognitive abilities, but have mild disabilities in the areas of language and/or motor skills.
In the developmental kindergartens, children enjoy activities typical of regular frameworks, while receiving remedial instruction and therapy from a staff that includes a special-education kindergarten teacher, speech, occupational and art therapists.
Developmental kindergartens allow challenged children to catch up with their peers and to acquire the basic skills they will need to succeed in mainstream classrooms.
Early identification in kindergartens
Early identification and treatment of children with developmental disabilities is critical.
Gone untreated, even minor difficulties may become entrenched or even irreversible.
With the support of the Bernard van Leer Foundation of Holland, Achiya directs Israel’s first-ever
multidicsiplinary early intervention program in ultra-orthodox kindergartens,” Maagan Achiya”, screening children for motor and language developmental delays. Achiya’s professionals design a customized intervention program for each child in need, and provide him with weekly help within his normal kindergarten environment.
Kindergarten teachers and parents participate in separate workshops, so that they can better understand children’s developmental stages and needs. Teachers are given knowledge that enables them to identify children with difficulties and refer them to community centers, or help those who have mild difficulties in the kindergarten framework.
The pilot program “Maagan Achiya”, was initiated in 2005 in Talmud Torah kindergartens in Bnei Brak and Elad and screened some 1,000 children by 2008. The program is now recognized by the Ministry of Education as part of the National Program for children at risk, and has been recommended for expansion to 60 municipalities throughout Israel.
Today the program is running in Holon and Bnei-Brak kindergartens, with the participation of 28 kindergarten groups and reaching 620 children each year. It is funded with the matching support of the Bernard van Leer Foundation and the municipalities. In Bnei-Brak, the program is part of the National Program “Good Beginnings”.
Improving language proficiency in pre-school children
The program aims to develop and promote 3-6 year old children’s language skills; expression and interpersonal communication, as well as advancing language skills in general.
The Department of Education, Ashalim, Achiya (the originators of the program) and the “Yad HaNadiv” Fund are all partners in this project.
In order to attain this goal, we offer structured pedagogical training to melamdim in the fields of language and child development: included in this training is guidance for adapting teaching methods to the specific needs of pre-school aged children aged 3 – 6. We make sure that the physical surroundings in the kindergarten (the learning atmosphere) be planned and designed in such a way as to encourage verbal interaction between the children and their teacher, as well as among the children themselves. Within the framework of this program, we purchase suitable didactic games and equipment for the kindergarten. In addition, the program offers enrichment for parents, providing them with knowledge in preparatory reading skills for preschoolers and encouraging their taking part in the “school experience”.
While the program is in progress, a teachers’ guide will be written for the use of the melamdim; this guide will contain all the theoretical and practical material gleaned during the course of teaching.
In the first stage, the pilot program is being operated in two cities (Bnei Brak and Beitar Illit) over the period of 3 years, in 60 kindergartens, with 60 melamdim of children from the ages of 3 – 6.
Research
Meyers-Joint-Brookdale Institute has asked to do evaluation research, which will accompany the project from its inception. The goal of this research is to contribute to perfecting the program design and continuing its development; research results will provide data on which to base decisions and to plan the continued implementation of the program – its integration into the system. To this end, the research will address the following main issues:
1) Monitoring the program
2) Evaluation of the level of satisfaction expressed by melamdim participating in the project and the contribution it has made to their teaching.
3) Examination of the influence the program has had on the melamdim: their methods in the cheder, the nature of conversation between the melamed and the children; areas of knowledge acquired by the melamed.
This research will be done during the 3 year implementation of the program by giving out questionnaires to the melamdim, by observation of their work and interviewing people who are involved in the project.
Development of educational games
In partnership with the Rothschild Foundation, Achiya is developing educational games that will be pedagogically valuable for Talmud Torah kindergarten teachers.
Suited to the traditional method of teaching the Hebrew language, and adapting stories and characters that are culturally known in the Charedi world, these games will add fun and excitement to young children’s curriculum.
For Orthodox Jewish boys, the study of Gemara is of paramount importance. Some boys who have already successfully acquired the skills needed for general reading and reading comprehension are at a loss when they begin learning Gemara, because of the Talmud’s complex structure and unique vocabulary. If such boys do not receive the timely help they need to overcome their difficulties, they can become alienated “outsiders” who are at risk of becoming lost to the Torah world.
Achiya works in the Talmud Torah frameworks, screening children to identify those who are having difficulty with Gemara. Graduates of the Achiya Teacher Training College – qualified special-education instructors who specialize in teaching Gemara to learning disabled children – tutor children in their own educational framework.
The Gemara intervention program is being implemented as part of the National program for children and youth at risk, in collaberation with the Bnei-Brak municipality.
