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Cahal trains on Veterans Day

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Every Veterans Day is staff development day throughout the yeshiva world. This year, workshops by two master educators were presented for CAHAL staff.

Melody Harris has been with CAHAL for over 20 years. It was no surprise that her workshop was closed out. She presented it at the Jewish Education Project’s Annual Yeshiva Day School Day of Learning, hosted by HAFTR. The topic she chose was how to facilitate communication between teachers and therapists to allow for real teamwork and collaboration on shared goals. Mrs. Harris inspired her audience by describing comprehensive approaches for creating the optimal learning opportunities for all students. Her workshop was attended by teachers from many different yeshivas, and the techniques presented were both exciting and practical. 

The CAHAL teaching staff had the privilege of attending a workshop presented by outstanding occupational therapist Dena Isaacs, who has worked with many CAHAL students and mainstream students at TAG for many years. She explained that there are students both in mainstream settings and in CAHAL, who struggle with executive functioning. Lacking these skills impedes a child’s ability to learn and be successful in all of his or her environments and not just in school.

Mrs. Isaacs’ presentation included dozens of examples of strategies and teacher-designed materials that educators have used to help children develop better executive functioning skills.

The CAHAL staff expressed its enthusiasm for all the information that was shared at the workshops. There was a palpable excitement as they set new goals to apply all they had learned in their classrooms.