The Charlotte Jewish News -November 2013 - Page 30
Eight Tips for an Accessible Chanukah
Newton, MA (JTA) - Gate
ways: Aeeess to Jewish Eduea-
tion, a Boston-based ageney for
Jewish speeial edueation, is offer
ing eight suggestions from experts
for a Chanukah eelebration that is
ehild friendly and fully aeeessible
for ehildren with speeial learning
needs:
1. As Jewish parents and edu-
eators, we plaee a lot of impor-
tanee on students learning how to
say the Chanukah blessings.
However, the aet of reeiting a
blessing isn’t as meaningful if a
ehild is simply repeating words in
Hebrew that have no meaning to
them. Sinee students with speeial
needs are often strong visual
learners, adding symbols to the
blessings ean help them to learn
the meaning of the Hebrew words
and phrases. As an added bonus,
over the past few years many par
ents of students with speeial needs
have told me that they had been
reeiting these blessings all their
lives without understanding what
the words meant until they looked
at our visual blessings.
- Rebecca Redner, teacher.
Gateways
2. Did you know that the body
learns 10 times faster than the
brain - and forgets 10 times
slower? Here are some ways to in-
eorporate movement into your
Chanukah traditions, providing a
fantastie opportunity to ineorpo-
rate praetieing fine and gross
motor skills while having fun:
build menorahs out of Legos or
Play Dob; ereate a 2-D menorah
out of shaving eream or finger
paint, and eut strips of paper to
make a paper ehain menorah (all
help with motor, visual and spatial
planning). Depending on the ma
terial used, they ean also serve as
a multisensory experienee. And
did you know that spinning the
dreidel helps improve finger
movement for a ehild’s peneil
grip?
- Ilene Greenwald, occupa
tional therapist
3. One menorah for eaeh fam
ily is good - but one for eaeh per
son in the family is even better.
When you have multiple ehildren
and only one menorah, siblings
may feel left out or have a diffi-
eult time waiting for their turn to
light the eandles. Having a meno
rah for eaeh member of the family
helps the kids feel more engaged
and invested in our traditions.
Plus, it is an opportunity to prae-
tiee properly setting up the ean
dles and lighting them. For very
young ehildren, you ean buy or
ereate a fabrie or paper menorah
with Velero eandles and flames.
- Sherry Grossman, director.
Community Special Education
Services, Gateways
4. Making - and eating - latkes
is an integral part of Chanukah,
and ehildren with an array of
needs ean partieipate in helping to
prepare them. The key is breaking
the proeess into easy, single-ae-
tion steps that mateh your ehild’s
abilities and motor ehallenges. Do
this by ereating step-by-step in-
stmetions using simple language
and pietures. Set up stations - one
step per station - with all the sup
plies the ehild will need for that
step. This gives the ehild inde-
pendenee and a sense of owner
ship - and makes eooking with
your kids less stressful for you.
- Arlene Remz, executive direc
tor, Gateways
5. Many ehildren have diffi-
eulty with transitions and waiting.
That’s why it is a good idea to
separate gift giving from lighting
the menorah. I find that kids just
want to rush through lighting the
menorah to get to the gifts, mak
ing it less speeial. Also, giving
kids toys at night (espeeially on
sehool nights when they won’t
have time to play with them) ean
be ehallenging. In our house the
gift ean eome at any time during
the day, depending on its use: pa
jamas and books at bedtime; new
shoes or winter eoats, searves,
ete., before sehool; and toys after-
sehool so they have time to play.
When we light the menorah, we
have time to enjoy the proeess of
setting up the menorah, lighting it
and playing dreidel.
- Nancy Mager, director, Jew
ish Education Program, Gate
ways
6. Games are a great way to de
velop soeial skills and praetiee
taking turns. Here are some great
Chanukah gift ideas that in addi
tion to soeial skills also will help
develop exeeutive funetion and
other eritieal skills:
* Guesstures: One-word eha-
rades in a fun format. Helps kids
praetiee reading and using body
language to eonvey messages.
* Getta Letter: One-minute
rounds thinking of words in eate-
gories. Learning to eategorize is
an important skill.
* Guess Who? and Hedbanz:
Children guess their opponent’s
“person” or objeet by asking de-
seriptive questions. Helps kids use
deseriptive words and deduetive
reasoning.
* Rush Hour: The objeet is to
move ears out of the way so one
ear ean exit the board. This helps
with motor and visual planning.
- Sharon Goldstein, director.
Day School Programs, Gateways
7. In advanee of Chanukah, one
of my teaehers has a diseussion
about Jewish heroes in her elass
(you ean easily do this at home).
The students identify eight heroes
who made an impression on them;
the teaeher makes up a paeket
with information about eaeh one
to send home. The students then
ean read about a different hero
with their families eaeh night
while lighting the eandles. The
heroes they ehoose range from the
obvious to the unsung.
- Ilene Beckman, director.
Rabbi Albert /. Gordon Religious
School, Temple Emanuel, Newton,
MA
gateways
accvsB U> Jewish educQtior
8. For ehildren who love and
learn best through engaging teeh-
nology, there are some great
Chanukah apps out there for iPads
and smartphones! My top five fa
vorites are 123 Color (iPad, free);
iChanukah (iPhone, 99 eents);
Light My Fire (iPad, free); Drei-
delTap (iPhone, free); and Chai on
Chanukah (iPhone, 99 eents).
- Beth Crastnopol, director.
Professional Development Pro
grams, Gateways^
(Visit Gateways’ website for
Chanukah blessings with visuals,
social stories and more.)
Eight days the light continued on its own:
A miracle, they say, but not more so
Than ordinary lives of flesh and bone.
Consuming wicks burned ashen long ago....
^Nicholas Gordon, poemsforfree.com
1 0 [
To aek reqc(y, s helps me:
* study cultures drouod the world
♦ Develop fipe motor skills
♦ Express myself with paint,
day, and crafts!
Limited openings. Schedule Togr Todqyl