Susan Schwamm
A Bridge to a Bright Future for Our Children
TJH Interviews Mrs. Chava Bodner of Gesher Early Childhood Center Mrs. Chava Bodner is the founder and director of the Gesher Early Childhood Center. Gesher is a unique school with an innovative program. Mrs. Bodner has developed strong working relationships with the yeshivas in our community and has earned the admiration of her parent body and the professionals who have been involved in and have observed her program. TJH: Mrs. Bodner, please tell us, what is unique about the Gesher Early Childhood Center? CB: The concept of the Gesher Early Childhood Center is actually completely Celebrating Shabbos with splendor unique, even though the parts that make up the program are not unique at all. Let me explain. Gesher is basically a typical yeshiva preschool using the same high quality curriculum that can be found in any of the preschools in our area. The faculty at Gesher is trained to support the many and varied learning styles and learning differences of its students in the same manner that can be found in the many educational facilities that are dedicated to this type of support. What makes Gesher unique is the combination. TJH: That sounds interesting. Can you elaborate; what support are you referring to? CB: Every child has talents and skills that enhance the educational process. Every child has struggles as well. Let us use a grade school child as an example. A student may excel at language-based subjects, for example at literature, writing, or history, and may struggle with math and science. Preschool children also may have learning differences that make it difficult for them to succeed. Some types of obstacles that we address are sensory integration, focusing and attention, visual perceptual, and auditory processing. As the science of education has developed, we have become more adept at identifying the causes of these challenges and formulating a program to properly support the children.
TJH: Don’t children generally “grow out it”? CB: Many children do have a natural ability to compensate or to develop skills on their own. Those children will succeed in a more populated classroom even without intervention. For many children, however, the pattern of struggling continues and actually intensifies in later grades if they are not properly supported. The Gesher model is ideal for successfully transitioning a child. TJH: What type of child goes to your program? CB: Keep in mind that Gesher is designed to be an excellent choice for typically developing children while incorporating methods that support non-typically developing children as well. We offer a high quality yeshiva preschool curriculum that is presented in a manner that also benefits students who are having difficulty in the mainstream yeshiva classroom. This includes several categories. The first is the child with no identified delay but is nonetheless struggling. The second is the child with an identifiable delay but does not qualify for state-funded services, and is therefore receiving no additional support. The third is the child with a mild delay who does qualify for state-funded services but the implementation of those services is not sufficient and is looking for the related service provider to team with the school to maximize the support. The fourth is the child who has the option of attending a non-sectarian integrated program but foregoes that support because is not comparable to the yeshiva preschool experience. TJH: How does Gesher successfully implement related services? CB: Gesher has two qualities that make it unique as far as implementing services: the specialized staff and the limited size class. The teachers at Gesher are all NYS certified in Special Education. They are trained to incorporate techniques and suggestions of related service providers. For example, a speech therapist may want a particular student to repeat a type of exercise. The therapist is encouraged to share the suggestion with the teacher and the teacher then incorporates that exercise naturally into the curriculum. It is no longer just an hour or two a week of speech therapy, it is part of the classroom culture. Additionally, because the teacher is working with the therapist, it is possible for the therapist to be in the classroom rather than have to pull the student out for the therapy. And because the class size is limited, the teachers and the assistants are able to make sure that each child’s goals are being addressed. TJH: Why would a child with no identifiable challenge choose Gesher? CB: For two reasons. First of all, the curriculum at Gesher is of a very high quality, in both the Judaic and secular arenas. And, because of the limited class size
T h e J e w i s h H o m e n A P R I L 1 1 , 2013
Focus on People
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