Special Needs in Kehilah (Religious School)

Our Kehilah teachers have three overall goals:

1. To help students view what they are learning as relevant and meaningful in their own lives so they will make informed Jewish choices.
2. To create a safe, comfortable and joyful learning environment so that children will view the Temple as theirs.
3. To provide a variety of stimuli and approaches to teaching to reach all different kinds of learners.

We have long made it our policy to find a place in our school for all Jewish children who are in mainstream secular classrooms, no matter their learning needs. We have, where needed, brought additional hadrakhahniks (classroom aides) into a room. We have teachers in most grades with varying degrees of training and experience in working with these children.

Bonnie Appel serves as our special needs coordinator and is on hand for our Sunday morning classes. She observes and consults with teachers and parents about their children and provides teacher and hadrakhah training workshops. We also use specially trained hadrakhahniks to assist in classrooms with children with special needs. Our students in grades 4 to 6 have our Panim el Panim (Face to Face) Hebrew tutorial program. This enables students who need more one-on-one interaction to succeed in learning Hebrew.

If you are enrolling a child with special needs, please complete and submit a Jewish Educational Action Plan. That will help us understand your child, your hopes and expectations, and will enable us to better serve all children in our school.

Call (203) 336-1858 or email Alexa Cohen or Rabbi Schultz if you are interested in supporting our Special Needs Programs for children and to discuss your part in ensuring access to Judaism.