SINAI Special Needs Institute

Last updated

SINAI Schools is an organization based in the New York metropolitan area that provides education for children and young adults with special needs. SINAI is the only Jewish day school for children with special needs that has received accreditation from the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools. [1]

Contents

Individualized special education

SINAI's student-to-professional ratio is greater than 1:2. This allows SINAI to create, implement, closely monitor, and, as needed, regularly modify an individualized program for each child. SINAI provides speech, language, occupational, psychological, and behavioral therapies. SINAI also provides mainstreaming opportunities in academic, social, and vocational settings. [2]

Schools and programs

Elementary schools

SINAI includes elementary divisions partnered with SAR Academy in Riverdale, SINAI at RYNJ in River Edge, New Jersey, and SINAI at JKHA in Livingston, New Jersey, and SINAI at Yeshiva of Central Queens (YCQ) in Queens, New York. SINAI elementary schools serve children with a wide range of special needs, including complex learning disabilities, social and neurological conditions such as Autism Spectrum and anxiety disorders, and developmental disabilities. Students are placed into social and academic age groups based on their individual needs.

High schools

Depending on their needs, students will be placed either in an academically rigorous program, designed for children with academic and/or social challenges including complex learning disabilities and Aspergers, or into a functionally academic program, designed for children with developmental disabilities.

Students who are ready for an academically rigorous program but who face learning disabilities or social skills challenges benefit from SINAI's Maor High School at Rae Kushner Yeshiva High School in Livingston, New Jersey. Many students at Maor fall into a "gray area" where they might otherwise attend a mainstream high school but would struggle academically or socially as a result. At Maor, these same children are able to take advantage of everything that Kushner has to offer them socially while learning in small classes tailored to their specific needs, and attending selected mainstream classes with the support they need to succeed. [3]

Students with intellectual or developmental disabilities attend SINAI's Karasick Shalem High Schools at TABC (in Teaneck, New Jersey), Ma'ayanot (in Teaneck, New Jersey), and Heichal HaTorah (in Teaneck, New Jersey). The functional academic program at Shalem provides students with the skills they need to succeed as they move into adulthood within the inclusive environment of their partner schools. Karasick Shalem High School at Heichal HaTorah serves boys aged 18–21 who have graduated from Shalem at TABC.

Adult programming

SINAI also offers an adult transitional program with the Nathan Miller SHELI (Supported Home Environment for Learning Independence) residence for men. SHELI is designed to meet the social, recreational, and emotional needs of young adults with developmental disabilities in the context of a supervised housing facility. This program guides young adults through their transitions to group living while promoting their independence as adults.

Related Research Articles

Special education is the practice of educating students in a way that accommodates their individual differences, disabilities, and special needs. This involves the individually planned and systematically monitored arrangement of teaching procedures, adapted equipment and materials, and accessible settings. These interventions are designed to help individuals with special needs achieve a higher level of personal self-sufficiency and success in school and in their community, which may not be available if the student were only given access to a typical classroom education.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mainstreaming (education)</span> Placing disabled students in regular classrooms

Mainstreaming, in the context of education, is the practice of placing students with special education needs in a general education classroom during specific time periods based on their skills. This means students who are a part of the special education classroom will join the regular education classroom at certain times which are fitting for the special education student. These students may attend art or physical education in the regular education classrooms. Sometimes these students will attend math and science in a separate classroom, but attend English in a general education classroom. Schools that practice mainstreaming believe that students with special needs who cannot function in a general education classroom to a certain extent belong in the special education environment.

The Joseph Kushner Hebrew Academy is a coeducational Modern Orthodox Yeshiva Day School located in Livingston, New Jersey. The Academy is dedicated towards developmental education and religious growth, for both boys and girls from Pre-Kindergarten through Grade 8. The affiliated Rae Kushner Yeshiva High School serves students in grades nine through 12.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Torah Academy of Bergen County</span> Yeshiva high school in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States

Torah Academy of Bergen County is a four-year yeshiva high school located in Teaneck, in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States. The school utilizes a split-schedule day offering both Jewish studies and college preparatory secular courses. The school has been accredited by the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Elementary and Secondary Schools since 2005.

The Frisch School, also known as Yeshivat Frisch, is a coeducational, Modern Orthodox, yeshiva high school located in Paramus, in Bergen County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It was founded in 1972 by Rabbi Menachem Meier and Alfred Frisch. The school primarily serves the Jewish communities of northern New Jersey and New York.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Inclusion (education)</span> Where disabled students spend most of their time with non-disabled students

Inclusion in education refers to all students being able to access and gain equal opportunities to education and learning. It arose in the context of special education with an individualized education program or 504 plan, and is built on the notion that it is more effective for students with special needs to have the said mixed experience for them to be more successful in social interactions leading to further success in life. The philosophy behind the implementation of the inclusion model does not prioritize, but still provides for the utilization of special classrooms and special schools for the education of students with disabilities. Inclusive education models are brought into force by educational administrators with the intention of moving away from seclusion models of special education to the fullest extent practical, the idea being that it is to the social benefit of general education students and special education students alike, with the more able students serving as peer models and those less able serving as motivation for general education students to learn empathy.

The Yavneh Academy is a Modern Orthodox Jewish day school located in Paramus, in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States. It educates students from pre-kindergarten through eighth grade. The school's motto is "Stimulating the mind, Nourishing the soul." The school was originally established in Paterson, New Jersey.

Special education in the United States enables students with exceptional learning needs to access resources through special education programs. These programs did not always exist. "The idea of excluding students with any disability from public school education can be traced back to 1893, when the Massachusetts Supreme Court expelled a student merely due to poor academic ability". This exclusion would be the basis of education for all individuals with special needs for years to come. In 1954, Brown v. Board of Education sparked the belief that the right to a public education applies to all individuals regardless of race, gender, or disability. Finally, special education programs in the United States were made mandatory in 1975 when the United States Congress passed the Education for All Handicapped Children Act (EAHCA) "(sometimes referred to using the acronyms EAHCA or EHA, or Public Law 94-142) was enacted by the United States Congress in 1975, in response to discriminatory treatment by public educational agencies against students with disabilities." The EAHCA was later modified to strengthen protections to students with disabilities and renamed the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). IDEA requires states to provide special education and related services consistent with federal standards as a condition of receiving federal funds.

In the United States, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) is a special education law that mandates regulation for students with disabilities to protect their rights as students and the rights of their parents. The IDEA requires that all students receive a Free and Appropriate Public Education (FAPE), and that these students should be educated in the least restrictive environment (LRE). To determine what an appropriate setting is for a student, an Individualized Education Plan (IEP) team will review the student's strengths, weaknesses, and needs, and consider the educational benefits from placement in any particular educational setting. By law the team is required to include the student's parent or guardian, a general education teacher, a special education teacher, a representative of the local education agency, someone to interpret evaluation results and, if appropriate, the student. It is the IEP team's responsibility to determine what environment is the LRE for any given student with disabilities, which varies between every student. The goal of an IEP is to create the LRE for that student to learn in. For some students, mainstream inclusion in a standard classroom may be an appropriate setting whereas other students may need to be in a special education classroom full time, but many students fall somewhere within this spectrum. Students may also require supplementary aids and services to achieve educational goals while being placed in a classroom with students without disabilities, these resources are provided as needed. The LRE for a student is less of a physical location, and more of a concept to ensure that the student is receiving the services that they need to be successful.

Rae Kushner Yeshiva High School / Yeshivat HaTichonit Beit Yosef is a four-year private Modern Orthodox yeshiva high school located in Livingston, New Jersey, United States. The school serves students living in areas ranging from Livingston, West Orange, East Brunswick, Highland Park/Edison, Staten Island, Elizabeth and Union County. The affiliated Joseph Kushner Hebrew Academy serves students through eighth grade. As of the 2013–14 school year, the school had an enrollment of 236 students.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Atlanta Speech School</span> School in Atlanta, Fulton County, Georgia, United States

The Atlanta Speech School is a language and literacy school located in Atlanta, Georgia, established in 1938. The school provides educational and clinical programs. The Atlanta Speech School's Rollins Center provides professional development for teachers and educators in partner schools and preschools. The Rollins Center focuses on the eradication of illiteracy. The Rollins Center has an online presence called Cox Campus, which is an online learning environment with coursework targeted for the education of children age 0–8.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Learning disability</span> Range of neurodevelopmental conditions

Learning disability, learning disorder, or learning difficulty is a condition in the brain that causes difficulties comprehending or processing information and can be caused by several different factors. Given the "difficulty learning in a typical manner", this does not exclude the ability to learn in a different manner. Therefore, some people can be more accurately described as having a "learning difference", thus avoiding any misconception of being disabled with a possible lack of an ability to learn and possible negative stereotyping. In the United Kingdom, the term "learning disability" generally refers to an intellectual disability, while conditions such as dyslexia and dyspraxia are usually referred to as "learning difficulties".

Ephraim (Fred) Kanarfogel is a professor and dean at Yeshiva University and one of the foremost experts in the fields of medieval Jewish history and rabbinic literature, as well as an ordained rabbi and Torah scholar.

The Vanguard School is an approved private school in Malvern, Chester County, Pennsylvania, United States, approximately twenty-two miles northwest of Philadelphia on the campus of Valley Forge Educational Services.

Christopher Charles Brantley is a former American football wide receiver in the National Football League (NFL).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yeshivat Ma'ale Gilboa</span> Post-high-school and shiluv yeshiva school in Israel

Yeshivat Ma'ale Gilboa is a Shiluv Yeshiva located on Kibbutz Ma'ale Gilboa in Israel's Gilboa Mountains. The Shiluv Yeshiva is unique in that it combines two years of Torah study with the full three years of army service. This is in contrast to students from Hesder Yeshivot, which serve in the army for a year and a half and complete three and a half years of Torah study. The Yeshiva emphasizes a commitment to rigorous Torah study, intellectual openness, intellectual disagreement and social consciousness.

Rav Teitz Mesivta Academy, commonly known as RTMA or JEC High School, is a Yeshiva high school located in Elizabeth, New Jersey and a branch of the Jewish Educational Center. Founded in 1955 by Rabbi Pinchas Mordechai Teitz, RTMA adheres to the tenets and practices of Orthodox Judaism. It is one of the country's earliest and leading Modern Orthodox Yeshiva high schools. RTMA's dual curriculum offers courses in Torah studies, as well as college preparatory academics. Most of its students reside in the Orthodox Jewish communities of New Jersey and New York. The school has been accredited by the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Secondary Schools since 2008 and is accredited until January 2024.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Daniel Fridman (rabbi)</span> American rabbi

Rabbi Daniel Fridman שליט"א is an Orthodox Jew who is the S'gan (Deputy) Rosh Yeshiva of TABC and the Rabbi of the Jewish Center of Teaneck.

Yeshivas Heichal HaTorah is an Orthodox Jewish yeshiva high school located in Teaneck, New Jersey. The institution owns and operates the Jewish Center of Teaneck, where it is located. Heichal is unaffiliated with Israeli yeshivas under the same name.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">YAI: Seeing Beyond Disability</span>

YAI, previously known as the Young Adult Institute, is an organization serving people with Intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) in the United States. YAI launched as a pilot program at a small school in Brooklyn, New York, in February 1957. The pilot program was run by co-founders Bert MacLeech and Pearl Maze and served seven people with I/DD. Today, YAI has expanded to a team of over 4,000 employees and supports over 20,000 people in the I/DD community. YAI supports people with Autism, Down syndrome, and Cerebral palsy, among others.

References

  1. "SINAI's Accreditation", sinaischools.org , accessed August 1, 2019.
  2. Palmer, Joanne (February 7, 2019). "A Visit to SINAI". The Jewish Link. Retrieved August 1, 2019.
  3. Stone, Frada (June 14, 2018). "Striking the Balance". The Jewish Link. Retrieved August 1, 2019.

40°54′07″N73°59′56″W / 40.90181°N 73.99892°W / 40.90181; -73.99892