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Parashat Shemini begins with the ordination of Aaron and his sons. Almost without warning or fanfare, they are brought before the entire community, washed with water, dressed up with appropriate [...]

Dear Parents and Guardians of Children with Special Needs, Thank you. Thank you for sitting down with me and our religious school teachers to walk us through your child’s IEP or 504 Plan. Thank [...]

In our Matan Institutes we work with Jewish Educators to guide them in including children of all abilities in Jewish education, offering concrete teaching tools for reaching every student and [...]

I never remember playdates being a “thing” when I was growing up. Now, as a parent, it is all the rage. My children frequently wonder aloud why they have playdates on certain days and not on [...]

Recently I was brainstorming with some other people involved with improving accessibility in the Jewish community about the kinds of issues we should be focusing on during JDAM (Jewish Disability [...]

Written by Meredith Polsky, Matan’s Director of Advocacy and Training Three years ago, I called a parent meeting for one of our Matan classes. Most of the children had started with us at age 6. [...]

This post is a part of our series, Reflections from the Matan Institutes. We are thrilled to feature Jen Vegh, Religious School & Youth Activities Director, Beth El Synagogue Center in New [...]

My recollections of childhood High Holidays in Brooklyn are suffused with images of my parents’ cerebral palsy disability, and how that impacted our celebration of the New Year. Although I [...]

Written by Orlee Krass, Matan’s Director of Education As another new school year gets underway, we can commit ourselves to ensuring that every student has the opportunity to grow and [...]

Written by Meredith Polsky, this post originally appeared on The Jewish Week blog The New Normal. Since I shared on this blog my family’s decision to withdraw our daughter Lucy from the local [...]