Posts in category "Profiles"

A supporting voice to the story of Team Binny.

When you look at Binny, what do you see?

I see an amazingly popular, engaging and smart boy.  I see a child who is surrounded by friends and educators and family members who believe in him and support him. And I see a person who brings his own value and perspective and contribution to any environment that he is in.

As a professional who has overseen Binny’s education here from the beginning, can you give a sense of how the Gateways approach is benefitting him at SHAS?

He benefits from professionals dedicated to his development and inclusion within the Jewish day school environment.  This is a supported inclusion program, in which he receives specialized instruction in basic skills, such as reading, writing, math and Hebrew, so that he can learn with his class.  A learning specialist adapts and modifies curricula to meet his needs, but preserves the overall objective and goal of the lessons and their progression.

The team approach is very important here, right?

It is critical.  I regularly convene professionals who work with Binny to ensure that his program is integrated and so we can share observations and chart his progress.  This includes his teacher, his learning specialist, his instructional aide, an occupational therapist and a speech-language pathologist.  This network within SHAS, combined with his friends and family, creates an environment of support and success.

Give a sense of his progress.

When we started working with Binny, his mode of communication was signing.  But he was able to break through that and begin using his voice to express himself.  This has progressed rapidly.

In the first grade, he learned how to be a student and he is an exceptionally hard worker in school.

Binny always surprises us with his ability to move forward.  There are so many things that he wants to do and can do. And we feel we need to support his growth, not limit it.  We want him to be a full part of the community.

What do you think Binny’s presence brings to the school?

Binny has an impact on many levels. Children understand that learning can be difficult, and asking questions and working hard are all part of the process. 

Teachers are more thoughtful about the learning process, presentation of materials, strategies and problem-solving skills for all students.

Binny offers everyone he comes in contact with an appreciation of the differences among all of us, and how we all learn and interact differently.  He gives us an understanding of the real world.

A supporting voice to the story of Team Binny.

Why is a Jewish day school education so important?

A Jewish education is one of the most important and effective ways of guaranteeing Jewish continuity.

There are approximately 210,000 children in Jewish day schools in the United States. This represents a bit less than one-quarter of Jewish school-age children. As much as day schools have grown in the last few decades, a minority of Jewish children is receiving a day school education.

We have to get as many of them into Jewish day schools and Jewish educational settings as possible.   We are talking about nothing less than community continuity.

There are about 20 students at SHAS who have special needs. How does this fit into your philosophy about community continuity?

If we value the continuity of the Jewish community into the next generation, and if we assume that Jewish day schools are an effective tool for this, and they are, then we must get as many students into Jewish day schools as possible.  And this must include those who are differently abled. 

But as a community, we haven't put resources into this, and as a result, too many students are left at the gate.  If we don't welcome them, then either we as a people are not interested in continuity, or we are just being exclusive, and telling some that they are not entitled to a Jewish education and they are not part of our future and our continuity.  It's that simple.

Speaking of gates, reflect for a moment on the value of Gateways: Access to Jewish Education in this realm and to SHAS.

SHAS and Gateways are partners.  We want the same things, so there is a synergy and a symbiosis.  They are the voice of special needs students in our community, and they bring to the table specializations that are simply essential to ensure that students with special needs are part of our school and our community and the Jewish people.

Do Jewish values play a role in any of this?

Jewish values are fundamental to inclusion.  As a people, we promote values such as chesed and tzedakah, but we are being incomplete if we don't apply these to the very broadest of the population. If we aspire to model these values and virtues, then we have to do what we are doing here.  If we exclude, we are basically telling someone that they are not important.  This is a matter of taking a Jewish value seriously.

Is SHAS a model?

Here in Sharon, having a school that students with special needs can access is an act of community building for students, parents and others, and is a model for the Jewish community that we should aspire to be.

Over at Striar Hebrew Academy of Sharon (SHAS), the head of school is starting these early days of the new term as he always does, standing out front and greeting students as they arrive by foot, car or bike.

And every day, without fail, one car pulls up, and one bespectacled third-grader emerges with a resounding and heartfelt Boker Tov delivered with ear-to-ear smiles.

"Every morning, he teaches me how to relate to others, with a sweetness and openness and ever-present good humor," said Dr. Richard Wagner, head of school. "He sets the tone. It's contagious."

It's a mighty load for an eight-year-old boy, but Binny Ellenbogen unwittingly delivers big time.

And here, no one thinks twice about the fact that Binny is a child with Down syndrome.  For sure, he is in the minority as a child with special needs, but he is in the majority as a child attending SHAS for a solid and immersive Jewish day school education and experience.

Of the 110 students at SHAS, Binny is one of about a dozen receiving support services from Gateways to address special learning needs. These are provided through individualized instruction and therapies both in and out of the classroom, but all within a supported inclusion program.

A learning specialist modifies and customizes his curricula but preserves and maintains its goals and objectives. An instructional aide helps him to understand classroom lessons on his own terms, and he receives occupational, speech and language therapies during the course of the week, all while being fully included with classmates and in tune with the rhythms of the school day.

"He is a full participant in the school community along with his peers," said Sue Schweber, Founder of the Day School Program at Gateways: Access to Jewish Education, which partners with SHAS and 12 other Jewish day schools in the greater Boston area to ensure a Jewish education for students with special learning needs.

"Every child learns and takes in information differently and Binny is no different in that respect. As with all students in Gateways, Binny's services and program are based on his individual learning style and needs."

On a recent weekday morning, Schweber sat with the team of teachers, aides and therapists who interact with Binny throughout the school week.  The regular meeting is an opportunity to plan, integrate approaches, share observations and compare notes.

"None of us are working in a vacuum," said Dina Saks, Binny's classroom teacher. "We all build on each other and learn from each other.  Our objective is to make sure we are unified and that it all works for Binny."

And it does.  Professionals who are part of Binny's team underscored his progress.  He has a wide circle of friends inside and outside of school, and enters the rough and tumble as gladly as the rest of them.

"I've seen a dramatic difference in him over time," said Marcie Lipsey, an occupational therapist who works with him for 90 minutes per week to develop hand dexterity and strength and visual and perception skills, among others.  All of these are skills he takes back to the classroom, as well as to social settings and home.

"This is clearly the right environment for him and the right integrated support network for him. I don't believe that this would happen if he was outside of the Gateways model."

His Jewish character and knowledge are developing and deepening as well, said educators and his parents, as Jewish exposures from school, home, synagogue and elsewhere converge.

"Our shul community and our home are reflections of each other," said Debbie Ellenbogen, Binny's mother and herself a Jewish day school educator. "Being in a school environment that is Jewish-focused is completely reinforcing for him.  That's the kind of environment I want all my kids to be in, and he shouldn't be an exception because he has a disability.

"It is important to me that he makes progress at his own pace in areas that are important for him.  There will always be a gap.  But the school he is in appreciates and nurtures his individuality, talents and interests."

He loves stories attached to Jewish holidays, takes family trips to Israel, can use basic Hebrew words, reflects on the memory of relatives by a Yahrtzeit candle, and leaps to open the Torah ark at services.

"Gateways allows Binny to be educated in a Jewish school and with a Jewish education, and this has defined who he is," Lipsey said.

The Gateways model is all about access to Jewish education, and ensuring that parents have options for day school, pre-school and supplementary environments for a child with special needs. Educators and parents alike say there is a moral imperative that this be the case.

"It's all well and good to say to our kids that we have to treat each other nicely and with dignity and respect," said Dr. Wagner, the head of school.  "But that is just talk and blather until we put these values and virtues into action.

"SHAS and Gateways are partners in making this happen.  We want the same things.  Gateways brings to the table specializations that are simply essential to students with special needs who are entitled to a Jewish education.

"If it wasn't for them, then the success and inspiration and joy that is Binny just wouldn't be happening."

Related Articles:

• Q&A with Richard Wagner, Head of School, Striar Hebrew Academy of Sharon (SHAS)
• Q&A with Sue Schweber, Founder of the Gateways Day School Program

Ethan was only 5 when his parents first brought him through the door of Gateways’ Sunday morning Jewish Education Program, then Etgar L’Noar. Eight years later, the last two spent on bar mitzvah preparation, the Westford, MA youngster was ready to become a bar mitzvah.

None of the key players – his parents, the Gateways staff and volunteers and certainly not Ethan himself -- would hear of letting his autism prevent him from reaching this milestone of Jewish life.

One of those players was Gateways’ Jewish Education Program Coordinator Nancy Mager, who first met Ethan when he was 8 years old. “He was a bundle of energy,” she recalls. “He didn’t sit still, and spent most of the time walking the halls.”

But what she didn’t know then “was that Ethan was learning -- on his own terms. He was picking up more than we ever dreamed.” And, when he began preparing for his bar mitzvah, Mager knew he’d need a special kind of tutor. “It took a while to locate the right one but, after a few months, I knew I’d found her.” Vicki Freidman was an experienced special educator, someone Mager knew would “get” Ethan as soon as she began working with him. “Then she’d see what he’s capable of."

“At Gateways Ethan found people who care about him, people who taught him to read Hebrew, people who prayed with him,” says his mom, Marla Richmond.

This was not to be the Gottlieb family’s first Gateways bar mitzvah however. Older son Jacob who is deaf became a bar mitzvah in 2007. But his parents knew things needed to be different for Ethan. For one thing, they decided not to have the bar mitzvah in their temple, feeling Ethan’s Gateways classroom would feel more familiar and comfortable. “It’s a place where he’s completely at home,” says his mom.

His teachers began with file folder activities that familiarized Ethan with bar mitzvah skills such as holding the Torah and wearing a kippah. To help Ethan learn how to participate in his bar mitzvah service, the method of task analysis was used to create visual supports that break down complex tasks such as putting on a tallit and dressing the Torah into sequential steps presented in words and pictures. His teachers also began taping Ethan’s bar mitzvah learning. “We had the laptop’s video-camera rolling during each lesson so we would be able to show his friends and family how much progress he’d made,” says Mager.

Viewing the videos, it became obvious that Ethan was making tremendous strides, reading prayers in both English and Hebrew. “It was more than we ever thought possible,” she adds. “And we were absolutely delighted. Now that we knew the knowledge was in there, we had to figure out a way to get him comfortable enough to lead a service in front of his friends and family.”

His teachers began adding more sitting time each week so that, by the time Ethan’s bar mitzvah day arrived, he was able to sit through the entire service. What’s more, though he was most comfortable in jeans and a T-shirt, Ethan gradually began wearing nicer and nicer clothes to class to prepare him for the sports coat, button-down shirt and khakis he would don for his bar mitzvah.

“All this was huge, but the absolutely best part for Ethan was working with Vicki,” says his mom. “From the beginning, she was attuned to what was going on with him. She knew when he could pay attention, she knew when he had to get up and move. Most of all, she knew he could do it.”

Ethan showed everyone there that day -- family, friends, Gateways faculty and students -- the fruits of his Gateways preparation, and his hard work. When he walked in, he slowly paced the room. “The look on his face showed so clearly: ‘I know all these people and I know they’re all here for me,’” says his mom.

Gradually, deliberately, Ethan led the Torah service. He led it quietly – it had been decided a microphone would be distracting for him – with Freidman and Rabbi Karen Landy by his side, along with his parents. “G-d could hear him and I could hear him,” Richmond says. “And when G-d hears you and your mom hears you, that’s what counts.”

“Everyone there was beaming at him,” Mager says. “Ethan, and each child we see through the bar/bat mitzvah process, teaches us something. All those years we did not know how much he was learning. But that day he showed us he had been listening – and learning -- all along.”

His father Bob Gottlieb also looked on with pride. “He knows these kids. He sings along. He’s happy there,” says his dad. “Gateways is a good place for him. Ethan could not have had a bar mitzvah if it weren’t for Gateways. Without Gateways, he wouldn’t have had a Jewish education at all.”

Nearly a year has gone by, and Ethan still wakes up Sunday mornings, puts on his Gateways T-shirt and tells his parents, “Time to go to Sunday school.” He also takes great pleasure in looking at the pictures of his special day. “That’s me,” he smiles, pointing to a photo of himself running up the hill, his tallis flying behind him. “That’s me.”

This year the Murphy family is looking forward to celebrating the Seder in their Milford home. Which will be a huge improvement over last year.

Last year Frank and Elisa, their younger daughter Hannah, a family friend and an on-duty Jewish nurse had Seder on aluminum trays at the nurses’ station at Children’s Hospital. A few feet away, 11-year-old Rachel was attached to multiple machines all working hard to stabilize her seizures and keep her vitals strong.

Seizures are just one result of a stroke Rachel suffered at 18 months. Brain, muscle and nerve damage also confine Rachel, now 12, to a wheelchair and restrict her speech, movements and eyesight.

But despite her challenges, this is shaping up to be the year when Rachel gets to participate in her family Seder in brand new ways. Thanks to Gateways and Rachel’s DynaVox – a computerized device providing dynamic voice output for people with speech and communication impairments.

Now in her fifth year in Gateways’ Sunday morning Jewish Education Program, Rachel is able to follow along in class with her trusty DynaVox. There the user-friendly visuals her dad downloads from Gateways' online Resource Center circumnavigate the visual and speech challenges that used to prevent her from participating in class. The device literally gives her a voice. “She’s able to connect with what she sees on the screen and what it means,” says her dad. “And that opens up infinite possibilities.”

What’s more, over and above the technology that’s allowing her to learn in new ways, just being in class on Sunday mornings presents Rachel with a new world to inhabit, says Frank. “It takes time to figure her out and see the real Rachel inside,” he adds. “Gateways teachers and teen volunteers are gifted and caring and being with her buddies gives Rachel a sense of community.” The family will also long remember the video Rachel’s Gateways classmates made for her when she was in the hospital.

“Gateways provides that key part of her Jewishness she would never otherwise have,” he adds. “Now when you show her the picture of the Sh’ma, Rachel covers her eyes. It means something to her. And that’s huge.”

Something else that means a lot to Rachel is music, specifically Jewish music.

Indeed, recognizing and responding to music “may be the most profound way she interacts with her world,” says her dad. Every Sunday morning she wakes up singing the Gateways welcome song, The Week is Here. "And now we sing Gateways songs at our holiday events. They’re very much part of our family.”

Compared to last year when she wasn’t able to sing or even know it was Passover, Rachel and her family are hoping for a joyous celebration. “Last year we were like the refugees in the Passover story,” says Murphy. “Now we pray everyone is healthy so we are free to celebrate together in our own home.”

The Murphys are ready: They’ve got a CD of Uncle Eli's Passover songs, a box o' plagues they filled with plastic cows sporting “boils” and some cheap sunglasses signifying darkness – along with the digitalized version of Gateways’ hagaddah Rachel’s dad has downloaded onto her DynaVox. (Click here for Gateways’ Seven Strategies for a Successful Seder for ALL Learners.)

“If we weren’t part of Gateways, Rachel would have a DynaVox but there would be nothing Jewish on it,” says Frank. “Now she has prayers, stories, and a hagaddah that she can understand -- pieces of the puzzle that make up the whole of her Jewish experience. It’s as if Gateways, connecting us to other families and tapping us into the reservoir of Gateways talent, is the hub with our families and temples the spokes.”

Just a few months ago, the Murphys set the date for Rachel’s bat mitzvah: May 5, 2013. “Sometimes I have to laugh at what a multi-cultural undertaking Rachel’s Jewish education is,” muses her dad. “The gentile software engineer father at the kitchen table struggling with the Indian software on Chinese hardware, all working together to make this bat mitzvah happen.”

But none of it would be possible without Gateways, Frank insists. “There would be no alef-bet, no holiday symbols, no prayers, no path to a meaningful bat mitzvah. There would just be a gaping hole in our daughter’s identity.”

“For a child with disabilities there’s a lot of brokenness and, by making Judaism accessible, Gateways brings about a wholeness for her and for us.”