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To provide individualized Jewish education in a therapeutic environment to children with special needs, ensuring they can each achieve the highest degree of knowledge, Jewish practice, self-esteem, and independence possible.
Here at JEMS Academy, we recognize that children with special needs require support on multiple levels: academic, physical, behavioral, social-emotional, and sensory. No two children are exactly the same and that is why our staff will tailor-make a Personalized Learning Plan that ensures a holistic approach so each child can truly reach his or her potential.
Our team of dedicated Special Education professionals will focus on charting a path forward for each child which interconnects both academic and therapeutic interventions. The result will be a truly harmonious approach to giving our children the very best education, the highest level of professional therapy, and the warmth and caring that ensures they can thrive and succeed.
Our staff members have been hand-picked for their stellar educational achievements, advanced level of experience, and passion for special education.
Our staff members have been hand-picked for their stellar educational achievements, advanced level of experience, and passion for special education.
Our amazing staff members set and carefully track progress on each child’s goals in all areas of development. This process brings their incredible, and considerable, rich experience, as well as advanced education, to the table, and helps them meaningfully contribute their observations and ideas for improvement. Staff members meet regularly and bring together the entire team involved in each student’s care and education to discuss progress and brainstorm ways to overcome challenges and improve performance. Our staff members have decades of combined experience, and each of our teachers holds a Master's degree in Special Education.
Our state-of-the-art sensory gym will be a blend of therapeutic equipment designed to strengthen and develop gross motor and fine motor skills, and areas designed to give children the sensory input they may need to function optimally. Some children require movement, bouncing, rolling, or textured materials in order to be able to focus and open their minds to learning. For these children, a sensory gym is critical to their ongoing success.
We will also have a separate sensory calming room designed to help students who have sensory processing issues to self-regulate and enable improved focus. Special lighting and textured items will help release tension and built up anxiety.
Life skills development areas provide an immersive experience for children, ultimately helping them to achieve a higher level of independence. Household chores, safety, and personal care are just a few of the areas we strive to teach our children to navigate
Most children with special needs require a very high staff-to-student ratio. Some children even need a one:one ratio to succeed. They also require a high level of oversight and team planning. The cost of educating our children is therefore an average of four to six times that of a typically functioning student.
South Florida Jewish educators have long grappled with the dilemma of how to accommodate children with special needs. While some children have managed to move along with their typically functioning peers, they often struggle mightily, learning a fraction of what they are truly capable of, and lacking coordination of care to manage their school experience.
Other children who are not so fortunate find themselves in various environments that are usually far from ideal. Some children are in non-religious settings where they are learning only secular subjects, and where their parents are compelled to bring them to off-site therapies after an exhausting day of school. Results are not optimal, both because of timing and because the therapy does not integrate with what they are learning and working on in school.
Public school is truly a last resort, as parents can attest to the poor educational programs, challenging environment often conflicting with Jewish values, and group therapy sessions that barely move the needle on their children’s therapeutic goals. Unfortunately, cultural differences can lead to hostility from staff members as well. Often incidents can go undiscovered for some time, as many children don’t have the words to express the difficulties they are encountering. Parents confide how difficult it is for their children, and only wish their child could just have a friend.
“Not only will this be of great benefit to the children who are able to now become part of a yeshiva community, it’s going to benefit our own students. Our students will have the opportunity to interact with these special neshamos who are able to bring out some of the goodness that lies within each child...to understand that everyone has struggles, and everyone has their strengths and their weaknesses. We are all children of Hashem, and we all deserve the same chance. JEMS Academy, this new venture, should have a lot of success and should become the crown of our South Florida Jewish Community...”
Our dedicated team of volunteers is wholly committed to bringing the JEMS vision to all the children who can benefit from our services within our community. Whether they are supporting fundraising efforts, helping coordinate events, or bringing their talents to enrich our students' daily activities, our volunteers are truly our heroes.
"For us to be able to join in supporting and encouraging JEMS is an extraordinary opportunity. To see children with special needs, who are facing various levels of challenges come to one place surrounded in a loving Torah environment...to learn, to receive therapy, and ultimately, to b'ezras Hashem be able to meet their goals and lead fulfilling lives, is of paramount importance to our community."
“When we help these families to be able to provide a nurturing, warm, Jewish environment for these special souls, we are investing not only for their future, we are investing also for our future...and obviously for the future of Am Yisroel. For this holy project of JEMS, we need people to step up to the plate...to be able to develop this essential program for the South Florida community.”
“Nothing can substitute an education and an environment that is tailor-made and custom-made for bringing out the best of these children. Without a question, as a community, our job is to make sure that we have all the institutions and all the infrastructure to meet those needs and challenges...With JEMS, we’re going to have that tool, the most essential tool in the toolbox.”
Our staff members have been hand-picked for their stellar educational achievements, advanced level of experience, and passion for special education.
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