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]
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]
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.
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.
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.
Teaneck is a township in Bergen County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is a bedroom community in the New York metropolitan area. As of the 2020 United States census, the township's population was 41,246, an increase of 1,470 (+3.7%) from the 2010 census count of 39,776, which in turn reflected an increase of 516 (+1.3%) from the 39,260 counted in the 2000 census. As of 2020, Teaneck was the second-most populous among the 70 municipalities in Bergen County, behind Hackensack, which had a population of 46,030.
A kollel is an institute for full-time, advanced study of the Talmud and rabbinic literature. Like a yeshiva, a kollel features shiurim (lectures) and learning sedarim (sessions); unlike most yeshivot, the student body of a kollel typically consists mostly of married men. A kollel generally pays a regular monthly stipend to its members.
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.
Developmental disability is a diverse group of chronic conditions, comprising mental or physical impairments that arise before adulthood. Developmental disabilities cause individuals living with them many difficulties in certain areas of life, especially in "language, mobility, learning, self-help, and independent living". Developmental disabilities can be detected early on and persist throughout an individual's lifespan. Developmental disability that affects all areas of a child's development is sometimes referred to as global developmental delay.
Edmonton Public Schools is the largest public school division in Edmonton, the second largest in Alberta, and the sixth largest in Canada. The division offers a variety of alternative and special needs programs, and many are offered in multiple locations to improve accessibility for students. As a public school division, Edmonton Public Schools accepts all students who meet the age and residency requirements set out in provincial legislation.
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.
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, 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 southern New York.
Inclusion in education refers to including all students to equal access to equal opportunities of education and learning, and is distinct from educational equality or educational equity. 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.
Community School, located in Teaneck, New Jersey, is a private school, founded in 1968 to serve the bright child with learning and attentional disabilities. The school's primary goal is to help children achieve a level of performance in the classroom that is fully commensurate with their respective abilities. The Lower School program provides children in grades K-8 with skilled remedial help and challenging academic experience. The program is designed for children who have learning disabilities (LD), such as ADD/ADHD, dyslexia, dyscalculia, and Apraxia.
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.
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.
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".
Intellectual disability (ID), also known as general learning disability, and formerly mental retardation, is a generalized neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by significant impairment in intellectual and adaptive functioning that is first apparent during childhood. Children with intellectual disabilities typically have an intelligence quotient (IQ) below 70 and deficits in at least two adaptive behaviors that affect everyday living. According to the DSM-5, intellectual functions include reasoning, problem solving, planning, abstract thinking, judgment, academic learning, and learning from experience. Deficits in these functions must be confirmed by clinical evaluation and individualized standard IQ testing. On the other hand, adaptive behaviors include the social, developmental, and practical skills people learn to perform tasks in their everyday lives. Deficits in adaptive functioning often compromise an individual's independence and ability to meet their social responsibility.
Chavrusa, also spelled chavruta or ḥavruta, is a traditional rabbinic approach to Talmudic study in which a small group of students analyze, discuss, and debate a shared text. It is a primary learning method in yeshivas and kollels, where students often engage regular study partners of similar knowledge and ability, and is also practiced by those outside the yeshiva setting, in work, home, and vacation settings. The traditional phrase is to learn b'chavrusa ; the word has come by metonymy to refer to the study partner as an individual, though it would more logically describe the pair.
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.
Rabbi Daniel Fridman שליט"א is an American Orthodox rabbi 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.
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.