High Holiday Resources for kids with special needs

image from JGateways.org: Mayer-Johnson symbol greeting card for Rosh Hashanah

Thanks to Shira Dicker,  I just learned about Gateways, “Boston’s central agency for Jewish special education,” and am pleased to pass along a page of their holiday resources.  Granted, I have no experience in this area, but I adore any attempt to include the widest possible range of abilities in holiday preparation and celebration.  Gateways has quick, downloadable instructions on how to make stuff like:

• The classic apple-print Rosh Hashanah card, but with scrupulous step-by-step visual and written  instructions. They include options like an improvised slant board for kids with accessibility issues and a quickly-assembled foam-covered fork for kids who need a firm handle on a slippery, paint-soaked apple. Plus, what to do if someone logically wants to eat that apple currently being used as a vehicle for paint.  (I mean, it’s an apple and it’s even got a fork in it…)

• The greeting card I’ve included in the picture above: Rosh Hashanah greetings made by arranging the relevant Mayer-Johnson symbols.  Neato.

I notice how adaptable all the crafts and activities are to any learner.  Our “Rosh Hasnahah for Tots” program last weekend could certainly have benefited from including the above-mentioned foam-covered forks at the apple-printing station. Maybe then we would have had fewer incidents that alerted parents that someone used acrylic paint instead of washable. (But the thing is, acrylic paint dries SO much faster…)

Here’s the whole list from the Gateways High Holiday Resource Page:

• High Holiday Crafts
• High Holiday Blessings with Visual Supports
• High Holiday Social Stories
• Make Your Own High Holiday File Folder Activities
• High Holidays Skills Support
• ASL Video Dictionary: Rosh Hashanah words and phrases