Making
Difference
Aide Aaron Schon helps Yakov Selmar in class at Yeshiva Beth Yehudah.
LONNY GOLDSMITH
Staff Writer
it
akov Selmar was worried.
The 9-year-old thought he
didn't have any friends at his
schools, Yeshiva Beth
Yehudah in the morning, Burton
Elementary in Huntington Woods in
the afternoon.
But for the last year, he's been getting
help from a 22-year-old college student,
Aaron Schon, an aide who helps him
with the tough stuff in class. And, while
Yakov may never get very far in school,
at least he is learning that being differ-
ent doesn't mean he's bad or unlikable.
"It's hard when the other boys are
moving up," quicker than Yakov, said
his mother, Seema Selmar. Its a ques-
tion of education and the boys need to
know it's okay to be different."
Lonny Goldsmith can be reached at
(248) 354-6060, ext. 263, or by e-mail
at: lgoldsmith@thejewishnews.corn
5/21
1999
6 Detroit Jewish News
Schon's helpful role is the product
of a year-old program by the Jewish
Association for Residential Care
(JARC), aimed at making life better
for families with developmentally dis-
abled children. The services range
from providing "respite care" — a few
hours a day of high-quality babysitting
he feels he's included as part of the class.
Inclusion is a deeply held value for
JARC, which has built a solid reputa-
tion for integrating developmentally
handicapped adults into the larger
self-sufficient community. JARC oper-
ates 17 group homes around southern
Oakland County for more than 90
A year-old program records some progress
in helping to mainstream mentally and
developmentally disabled children.
— to high level, one-on-one training
by experts like Schon.
"Yakov wouldn't get as much out of
being in class if he didn't have an aide,"
his mother said. "When they work one-
on-one, Aaron is a tutor, but in the class-
room, Aaron is there to help everyone.
This way, Yakov doesn't have the stigma
of needing an aide by himself" — and
adult clients, and 60 people in inde-
pendent living situations.
But until last year, the agency had
no experience of providing direct ser-
vices to developmentally and physical-
ly disabled youths too young to live
apart from their families. JARC was
aware of the needs because the agency
housed a program that let the parents
of the children network and organizes
advocacy programs to press for gov-
ernment and private help.
Local philanthropists Merle and
Shirley Harris gave JARC an endow-
ment last year to start the Children and
Family Division. Now, JARC counts
more than 200 families getting help.
The challenges for JARC have
included learning about what kinds of
care are actually effective, not just for
the child but for the whole family.
"We weren't following a program
anywhere else," said Laurel Berger,
director of the new division. "We
talked to families and responded to
what they said their needs were."
Taking A Break
Respite care, Berger said, was added
first to the Children and Family
Division repertoire and is the most
requested service — 30 families
received more than 4,500 hours of
DIFFERENCE on page 10