By Sheri Harari, MSEd, Sp.Ed, W.D.P
Mainstream learning can be difficult for children with learning differences. That’s why Gesher Yehuda exists! We are a school where bright students with learning differences can thrive!
Gesher Yehuda has a talented staff of teachers and specialists, all passionate about helping students excel. Mrs. Sheri Harari is our English language reading specialist.
“As a reading specialist, our job is to make reading easier for students who struggle. If we intervene at an early age, we have the advantage of creating more efficient pathways in the brain to facilitate the process of the written language and make reading easier. Using a multisensory approach that is direct, explicit and systematic, reading specialists teach the structure of the English language, not just the letters and sounds.”
As a member of the local Syrian community, Mrs. Harari has always been familiar with the school. “It is essential to have a Yeshiva that can support students with learning differences and provide extra support in both Judaic and secular studies. We must continue to expose them to the Torah, laws, and customs of the holidays and traditions of our community.
Every student has the right to an education with the necessary support and/or services to achieve their potential. We need to empower students with the message, ‘I believe in you. Yes, you can!’ The right learning environment yields growth; growth yields success; and success yields increase in one’s self-esteem and confidence.” Providing children with learning differences the proper educational support is essential towards empowering them to achieve academic success.
Mrs. Harari explains why her role is more important than ever, “The current student generation is being challenged far beyond any previous generation by the proliferation of technology. While teachers are rising to this challenge, we are finding an increasing number of students with learning differences, requiring special learning accommodations to achieve academic success.
Special education teachers know and understand how students with learning differences learn, and therefore can provide various learning pathways to support their individual learning styles. Special education instruction that breaks down learning into small manageable chunks and reinforces skills through repetition, helps rewire and strengthen the brain connections of retaining and recalling information within working memory.”
Mrs. Harari continues to stay abreast of the current research in the Science of Reading. She generously shares her knowledge and techniques she has developed over the years with her colleagues here at Gesher Yehuda