Tiferes Mordechai Center for Integrated Learning provides a holistic approach to learning in conjunction with a collaborative, consultative model.

Holistic education nurtures the broad development of the “whole student,” with emphasis on the intellectual, emotional, social, physical and creative potentials of each child.  Life experiences and learning beyond the confines of the classroom foster growth on many levels.

Our Collaborative Model recognizes that students achieve when the combined expertise of our special education teachers is enhanced by the interventions of trained therapists and analysts. As part of this collaborative team, parents play a supportive role in both the assessment and intervention process. An in-depth evaluation is conducted for each student and includes a variety of platforms. Formal and informal testing, coupled with behavioral observation both inside and outside of the classroom and parental report help to give us a clear picture of what the child’s functional level is.

After the assessment process, a program book for each child is compiled which targets a broad range of academic and social programs.  Each program is carefully selected and tailor-made to suit the student’s needs. The program book includes intake benchmark data, daily program logs and a behavior plan for each student. The teaching process begins utilizing a variety of methodologies.  At the end of each day, staff members graph student progress and meet to discuss future interventions and programming.

A multi-disciplinary team consisting of special educators, board certified behavior analysts, speech therapists, occupational therapists, physical therapists and school psychologists, work together to target individual and overarching goals simultaneously.

In addition to the 1:1 instruction that is an integral part of the day, the classrooms are abuzz with thematic units and social groups to stimulate, engage and intrigue.  Reading, writing and mathematics curricula are the forefront of our academic program, however, aspects of science, social studies and geography are taught during circle time to help students develop environmental awareness and independent living skills.

EDUCATIONAL MODEL

Our program offers the following evidenced-based methodologies throughout the school day:

Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) – the application of operant and classical conditioning that modifies human behaviors, especially as part of a learning or treatment process. Behavior analysts focus on the observable relationship of behavior to the environment, including antecedents and consequences.  By functionally assessing the relationship between a targeted behavior and the environment, the methods of ABA can be used to change the target behavior.

Natural Environment Teaching (NET) – the use of intrinsically motivating materials, teaching in natural contexts, and focusing on the child’s immediate interests to guide language instruction and increase generalization of skills into all environments.  It involves items chosen by the child, variations in instructional targets every few trials; loose shaping contingencies, natural reinforcers, and playful interactions.

Behavioral Intervention – the integration of elements of Applied Behavior Analysis and Natural Environment Teaching, utilized to help motivate students and shape their behaviors. Through positive intervention, “chaining,” and manipulating a child’s environment, confidence is built and performance levels are increased. Functional behavioral assessments are administered and baseline data is recorded to determine the course of action needed to rectify/improve a behavior. Each child’s behavior intervention plan is highly individualized to most effectively meet the needs of that child and their family.

Social Cognitive Training – the fostering of an acquisition of appropriate social behaviors with an emphasis that learning occurs in a social context through observation. A person’s ongoing function is a product of continuous interaction between cognitive, behavioral and contextual factors.  Core concepts within a social cognitive model include observational learning, goal setting, outcome expectations and self-regulation.

Sensory Integration Therapy – the integration of multiple sensory activities in an effort to retrain the brain circuitry to integrate the feedback appropriately.  Neurological processing and integrating sensory information from the environment and body contribute to learning, emotional regulation, behavior and daily living. Sensory integrative dysfunction is a common disorder for individuals with neurological learning disabilities such as autism spectrum disorder, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder and sensory modulation dysfunction.

Music Therapy – the utilization of music as a stimulus to promote learning and skill acquisition.  Using melodic and rhythmic strategies, students with special needs are able to develop fine and gross motor skills, improve behavior and increase memory. Research demonstrates the efficacy of music in the curriculum to enhance literacy skills and improve speech and language abilities as well.

COMPREHENSIVE CURRICULUM

In addition to the evidenced based methodologies that are the foundations of our integrated program, our classrooms utilize the following curriculums:

READING

Reading Mastery is a complete basal reading program that uses the Direct Instruction method to help students master essential decoding and comprehension skills. The program places particular emphasis on teaching thinking skills and helping students acquire background knowledge. Program materials include fully scripted lessons to guide teachers through carefully constructed instructional steps – modeling new content, providing guided practice, offering individualized practice and applying skills. It also utilizes a special orthography designed to assist students identify letter sounds. The special font is later phased out and replaced with traditional orthography. Signals and group responses are used to keep students involved, help them stay on task and help with lesson pacing. A typical 30- to 45-minute lesson includes seven to nine short activities encompassing multiple strands of content including phonemic awareness, letter-sound correspondence, sounding out of words, word recognition, vocabulary, oral reading fluency and comprehension.

Phonemic Awareness, SRA features activities that follow the developmental sequence for teaching all levels of phonological awareness. This program helps to establish the early framework necessary to help students progress into fluent and confident readers. This program is a supplementary program to Language for Learning and Reading Mastery.

Wilson Reading System (WRS) is a structured literacy program based on phonological-coding research and Orton-Gillingham principles. This well recognized program systematically teaches the structure of the English language. Students learn how to decode and encode to the level of mastery and receive instruction in phonemic awareness, decoding and word study, sight word recognition, spelling, fluency, vocabulary, oral expressive language development and comprehension.

VAKT Reading, is a multisensory approach linking listening, speaking, reading, and writing in a way that facilitates student engagement in visual and auditory, kinesthetic, and tactile approaches simultaneously. The VAKT Model includes visual information gained by sight, auditory- listening and responding components, kinesthetic experiences and tactile- touch related activities to help students learn utilizing all of their senses.

The Edmark Reading Program, uses a carefully sequenced, highly repetitive word recognition method combined with errorless learning. This well recognized approach eliminates incorrect responses and helps students view themselves as readers. The program ensures success to students of many ages and levels who have not yet mastered beginning reading. It features target words from the Dolch Word List and basal readers, extensive comprehension practice of words, phrases and stories, and left-to-right reading/tracking.

Open Court Reading is a comprehensive reading and writing program known for its systematic instruction in phonological and phonemic awareness and phonics. There are also strong components for instruction in comprehension and writing.

Reading Wonders is a reading program that combines research-based instruction with new tools to meet today’s challenges. The program helps students to build a strong reading foundation, access complex text and engage in collaborative conversations.

LANGUAGE

Language for Learning engages students in direct teaching of vocabulary and concepts. This oral language program teaches children the words, concepts, and statements important to both oral and written language, and helps enable them to extend this knowledge to other areas of theirdevelopment.

WRITING

Handwriting without Tears is an established handwriting curriculum that is designed to provide both one on one and full classroom instruction to students in general education and special education settings. The program utilizes engaging and developmentally appropriate instructional methods and allows for occupational therapists to work alongside classroom teachers to teach students how to write appropriately and legibly.

MATHEMATICS

The Stern Structural Arithmetic program is a comprehensive program for teaching the foundations of mathematics and number concepts to students. Students experiment with colorful wooden blocks fitting into grooved areas, giving them insight into mathematical relationships without using rote learning and counting.  This program provides concrete representations to develop understanding of not only the mathematical concepts but also of abstract and pictorial representations.

Connecting Math Concepts is a program that provides explicit, systematic, intensive instruction and offers step-by-step lessons that have been rigorously field-tested and shaped to meet the needs of students who struggle with math. The program introduces key concepts over the course of multiple lessons – providing the time students need to learn, process, and build a deep understanding. Ongoing assessment helps teachers identify and differentiate instruction to meet every student’s needs.

Math in Focus is the newest program to incorporate the widely used Singapore approach to mathematics. This program is common core aligned and provides an emphasis on application of math skills to real world situations to help children become formidable problem solvers in real life.

My Math, and Go Math! are both comprehensive K-6 mathematics programs developed to support Common Core State Standards and the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics Curriculum Focal Points. These programs are interactive and personalized and seek to engage students on many levels.

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Steck Vaughn Curriculum provides comprehensive learning solutions to students by providing personalized, flexible and dynamic instruction in a multitude of subject areas include social studies, mathematics, science and reading.

SOCIAL SKILLS

The Social Thinking Curriculum fosters an understanding of the importance of pragmatic language skills and motivates students to be effective and appropriate communicators. The Incredible Flexible You is an engaging educational series that combines a social learning framework with dramatic play activities that appeal to early learners. Play is the learning environment of young children, and this curriculum capitalizes on this idea.  Whole Body Listening teaches the fundamentals of how and why we listen and is an excellent strategy for helping students learn what is expected of them and how to keep others feeling comfortable around them.

THERAPEUTIC PROGRAMS

 The multi-disciplinary team at Tiferes Mordechai integrates a variety of therapeutic programs into student’s therapy sessions and classroom curriculum. The following are some of the programs students at our school will receive:

PROMPT THERAPY

Prompt (Prompts for Restructuring Oral Muscular Phonetic Targets) is a unique, evidenced-based therapeutic treatment method that is used to improve sound production in children with speech impairments. This approach uses tactile cues to support and shape movements of the oral musculature used for articulation, which assists in the improvement of sound, syllable and word production. This method eventually improves connected speech as well. This treatment method works by improving the movements of articulators thus improving speech production.

ASSISTIVE TECHNOLOGY/AUGMENTATIVE & ALTERNATIVE COMMUNICATION (AAC)

Students at Tiferes Mordechai have the benefit of assistive technology to meet their communicative needs on a daily basis. Our AAC team, comprised of a special education teacher and speech language pathologist, under the supervision of an assistive technology professional (ATP), observe and evaluate students and provide them with appropriate devices and individualized programs to improve their speech, augment their communication and improve the quality of their social interactions. Classroom teachers undergo extensive training in programming, training students and updating device configurations.

TYPING

Our occupational therapy typing program follows the Typing Club system and is customized for each individual student based on his or her capabilities. Students are assessed for their ability to perform finger individuation, thereby being able to utilize each individual digit to hit select keys. Students are taught to recognize the location of every letter on a standard QWERTY keyboard and practice touch typing– each student at his or her own pace. Students are eventually able to touch at a very productive speed.

INTEGRATED LISTENING SYSTEM

Integrated Listening System, (ILS) is an auditory and vestibular input listening program, which is implemented to improve neuroplasticity through specific and repeated soundwave stimulation and frequency of sound input. Neuropathways are built and synaptic activity is fostered through this listening program. This program has been proven to aid with brain/body integration through a staged approach, starting with the fundamentals of sensory integration and then extending through more complex cognitive functions, including language, self-expression and social skills.

ASTRONAUT PROGRAM

The Astronaut Training program is a child-friendly treatment protocol designed to stimulate and integrate the vestibular, auditory and visualsensory processing systems and enhance general functioning. This includes improvement in postural development and control, motor skills acquisition, timing and sequencing of movements, spatial and body awareness, balance and coordination, eye muscle control and level of arousal/attention.

RHYTHMIC MOVEMENT TRAINING (RMT)

Rhythmic Movement Training (RMT) is a series of gentle rhythmic activities and reflex integration exercises for increasing overall function and integration of the sensory system, improving learning ability, emotional wellbeing, and ease of movement. RMT helps with improving attention, sensory processing abilities, brain connectivity, visual skills, impulse control and sensory processing skills.

MEDEK

Cueves Medek Exercise is an evidenced based method used to improve automatic postural responses for students who have physical impairments and motor delays. The trained therapist physically manipulates the student to stretch tight muscles and train muscles in groups to help the student gain control over his/her trunk musculature. This translates into increased performance in gross motor activities such as sitting, standing, and walking.