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Ellah Rosenzweig, an Efshar Circle student, has fun in the sukkah.

autism, Gillman wanted to make sure
she found an inclusive synagogue that
could also teach to Brodie’s learning
style. She decided on Temple Shir
Shalom in West Bloomfield.
“They don’t treat us like they are
making accommodations, and that’s
a huge difference for us because it
eliminates the feeling of separate but
equal,” Gillman said.
“Everyone treats
Brodie with a lot of
dignity and respect.
They’re not trying
so hard. It seems
very natural. I feel
like the clergy is just
as invested in her
Danielle and
as they are with any
Brodie Gillman
other kid. They are
not just accepting
of a kid that’s different; they treat her
the same.”
Similarly, Brodie had a positive
experience with inclusion when she
attended preschool at the Pitt Child
Development Center (CDC) at the
Jewish Community Center. Each year,
the CDC typically has two or three
children who are placed with an advo-
cate (aide) to assist with things like
social interactions or sensory needs.
“Our goal is to have the advocate
interact with all the children and to
look like a third teacher in the room
to an outsider and not someone who
is there for one particular student,”
said Shannon Hall, CDC director.
Educators agree that with limited
resources, meeting the needs of a
younger child is much easier than an
older child because in a preschool
environment, those needs are more
social than academic. There have,
however, been instances where a
child requires more than what his or
her advocate can provide, Hall said.
In her 14 years at the CDC, there have
been three situations where a child
left the preschool because he or she
couldn’t be adequately accommo-
dated. The inclusion program began
in 2000.

COLLABORATIVE EFFORTS
As this community looks to better
meet the needs of a more diverse pop-
ulation of learners, one of the meth-
ods being explored is through further
collaboration.
Currently, a team of administra-
tors from Beth Jacob, Yeshiva Darchei
Torah, Farber Hebrew Day School,
Hillel Day School and Yeshiva Beth
Yehudah are participating in a project
originated in Boston called B’Yadenu
(in our hand). These educators are
exploring ways to serve a wider range
of students and planning professional
development with a goal of providing
a day school education to more stu-
dents with special needs.
One of the methods being explored
is collaborating on training to address
common issues such as differentiating
instruction in the classroom or man-
aging challenging behaviors, accord-
ing to Dr. Jennifer Friedman, dean of
student learning at Hillel.
“We’re doing a much better job of
being a cadre of professionals in the
community, working toward our goals
of reaching all types of learners,” said
Friedman, adding there has been
some discussion of a self-contained
classroom in a Jewish day school envi-
ronment but, without funding, that is
not possible.
“What we have is much more than
a lot of communities have, which is
great, but I also think we could figure
out how to give more services to kids
with special needs,” she said.
“When the government couldn’t
figure out a way to provide the unin-
sured access to quality medical care,
we as a community came up with
Project Chessed. We know how cre-
ative our community can be in com-
ing up with ways to meet a specific
need so we could figure out a way to
provide our kids with access to a qual-
ity Jewish education.” •

Contributing Writer Jennifer Lovy has a son
with autism who attends public school and is
also a student at Efshar Circle. She also has two
children at Hillel Day School.

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February 23 • 2017

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