Yad yerachmiel

Shayahle is 6 and 3/4 years old. He has grown and put on weight. He has BH been very healthy this winter. He is learning to talk and says oo aaah eee bah, auto, ken, Ima, Dudu, and more words

His musical talent is growing he plays the cymbols on his own and the drum he listens to his music and dances. He is trying to jump and he is learning how to ride a tricycle

He is going to bed well and sleeping well. He doesn't know how to play with friends his age, he pushes them around. Siach Sod is working on this.

He is still in diapers.

TEACHING SHAYALE TO TALK

A mother asked how to get her Downs child of 3 to talk and this is what I told her

I have a 5 year old Downs boy called Shayale. He goes to Siach Sod, a special school in Jerusalem. He does not speak yet but he understands a lot and has a wonderful speech therapist, a music therapist, an occupational therapist and 3 wonderful teachers. There are 6 children in his class. He is not integrated into an ordinary school

The teachers say it is very normal for a Downs boy of his age not to speak yet. He makes a lot of sounds, he has said words but he usually only says a word once and then not again.

Siach Sod is a haredi school run by the Gurer Chassidim and there is a yeshivah for the boys when they get older and a vocational school as well.

My child has a special talent for music, his father is a composer and musician and he has inherited a musical ability. Shayale loves music and he receives a private lesson once a week from the music therapist. All the staff members use music with Shayale to facilitate communication.

This works well with some children, but not all. One little girl in his class has hearing difficulties and wears hearing aids which she continually removes, so she does not hear the music.

The teachers use a big mac to get the children to communicate. I have a big mac at home which I rent from Eizer Mitzion. A big mac costs, I think, Nis 400 to buy. A big mac is a tape recorder with a flat round plate. The teacher records a word into the big mac and presses on the round plate on the big mac and the word is played word.

When the children have ring, (where they all sit around the teacher in a circle and she tells them a story.) She will record "Boker tov" into the big mac. Then she will say Boker tov yeladim. Then pass the big mac to the child nearest her in the ring. He/she will hit the big mac and "say" Boker tov to the teacher. Each child has a turn at doing this. They love the big mac.

Then the teacher may get another big mac and record yes into it and record over the first big mac, no. She will start the story and ask a question. She will place both big macs infront of a child and he/she will decide if he/she wants to say yes or no and hit the relevant big mac.

The big mac does not have much recording space. We dictate a brocha onto the big mac and when Shayale needs to say a brocha we dictate the appropriate brocha onto the big mac and let him hit the big mac and "say" the brocha before he eats.

I have tapes with brochas on them and I often play them for him

I made aliya from South Africa 10 years ago. I do not know the Israeli gan songs as my other chidren were 12 and 14 when we came. I found a set of 2 CD roms with an accompanying book containing all the gan songs in Hebrew. Its fantastic, so when Shayale comes home from school I play this all day from 5.30 until he goes to sleep about 9.30. It is improving his language acquisition and my Hebrew, the songs are beautiful and very well sung. The language is of a very high grammatical level. These are the songs that Israeli children are brought up with, instead of Mary Has a little lamb etc. I am so happy I found this series. I am becoming culturaly integrated into Israeli society which is vital for teaching my child and adds to my enjoyment and understanding of Israelis

These are the songs that the staff sing to the children at school They are especially designed to teach the children all the concepts they need, far, near, up, down etc. Shayale loves the songs because they are familiar to him.

Animal sounds are different in Hebrew a dog does not go woof woof he goes how how. It is very important to know these sounds as they are the building blocks of language.

I have a baby's cot toy with realistic animal sounds, when he presses the horse it makes a real neigh. Shayale loves this. Interactive toys are essential for speach therapy. Toys that make a noise and are realistic or that move and the child interacts with.

I go to Shayale's school at least once a month to see what progress he is making.Shayales loves me to come to his school. He feels secure and he feels a sense of relief, now his Mom knows how to communicate with him, I can see that this is what he is thinking. He takes my by the hand and shows me things in his classroom.

We get full reports daily and especially on Friday but it is one thing to read about what he is achieving and it is another to make him do those activities at home.

For example I have tried to get him to build blocks with me. But he gets frustrated and flings them around the room. Then I saw how he builds at school. The teacher sits the table with him, she gives him a block and he places it on top of another, he cannot fit it into the other block, so she does it for him. They build a high tower together, which he would not be able to do on his own.

Many special education children do not work things out for themselves. They have to be taught how to play with toys. For example to push a car along the ground. Many downs children copy us but the don’t understand what we are doing or why we are doing it. This has to be explained to them.

Communication and language skills are achieved at many levels and a lot of reinforcement is necessary. For example they were taught clean and not clean. They were given chocolate cake to eat and the teacher smeared it on their faces. Then they were shown their dirty faces in the mirror and she said "Lo Naki". Then they were taken to the bathroom and had their faces washed. She said "Naki". They were then taken back to the mirror and shown their clean faces. There are many layers of activity here. Tactile, the feel of the dirty face, visual seeing the dirty face, auditory hearing the word "lo naki". Smell,the smell the chocolate. The more senses are used the easy it is to teach. They were given pictures of children with clean faces and dirty faces. Pictures of towels and faces. Many different activities were done with naki. The word maluchlach was only introduced later. There is a lot of repetition, so if a child misses school, (special children often do, due to illness or necessary therapy and testing out of school) they can catch up.

For instance he learnt Rosh, yad. Panim etc when he was two. It was repeated when he learnt about clothes, it was repeated when he learnt about food, it was repeated when he learnt about naki. It is repeated when they learn about animals, and when they learn about festivals

I make a point of reinforcing what he learns at school, when he comes home. I repeat these words every morning when I dress him, every night when I undress him, every time I bath him. I keep on talking and talking and talking. I say Mommy is washing your face. Mommy is putting the shirt over your face. I only speak to him in Hebrew.

I have beautiful books for him at home one is "Sefer Rishon sheli" The other is "1000 musagim rishonim sheli", the other is "My dictionary Hebrew English." These books are fantastic. I bought the first two from a toy store in Geula and the third one from Steimatzkis. The book from Steimatzkis is excellent for me as well because it has phrases in Hebrew and English which is a wonderful help to teach me Hebrew.

I spend an hour each day reading these books to Shayale. He loves them, he loves turning the pages. The first two books have plastic covered pages so he cannot tare them. The 3rd one doesn’t. Downs children have very undeveloped nerves in their hands so if they hold a piece of paper in their hands, they hardly feel it. They have elasticity in their cells and so their muscle tone is weak and has to be strengthened. Their fine motor skills need to be worked on. So I find that turning pages is excellent for his fine motor skills. I say a word on the page and he points to the picture. I repeat many words over and over on the pages.

I don’t force him to point I make it a game. He turns a page and I say a word pointing to the picture. If he doesn’t turn the page I point to a new picture.

Never get tired of repeating words it is all going in and they love it.

I get so much nachas from Shayale. Every day there is a new surprise. He has a wonderful sense of humor and gets a happy gleam in his eye and starts to laugh when he thinks of something funny to do.

Last night he took a plastic plate off the shaish and started laughing, he climbed up onto my lap and put it on my head. He often takes my son's kippa off his head when he is not looking and then tries to put it back. He is always making us laugh.

I would love to meet your son and I am sure Shayale would as well. I have noticed that Downs children have a very special kesher with, and an affinity for each other.

Yesterday I went to see an expectant Mom who was due to have her baby that day. She lives in Rechavia.
I left her at 1.20 as I had to be back to take Shaialehe off the hasa'ah at 2.20 I rushed down her road as I had 2 buses to catch. I went into Keren Kayemet and stood at the 22 bus stop then decided that was not a good idea. I rushed off after a short while I saw the 22 and rushed back but I missed it. I then caught the 4 after a wait. When I alighted in Srauss street the 45 alef wizzed past. I missed it by a second. I had said tehillim on the 4 asking Hashem to get me home on time. So I knew something was up.
Eventually I caught the 25 which is a walk to my dira. As I was walking down the path I saw Shaialeh's hasha'ah pull up outside our house.
I was not happy as I do not like to keep the driver waiting.
I ran the last block and I saw Ruvie our little friend waiting for me, I had thrown out my bookcase and I told him to come and fetch the krashim, he makes tables and mechanim with it. He had told the driver not to worry I would be home soon
As I was lifting Shaialhe in his heavy car seat from the Hasha'ah I heard someone greet me.
I turned around and saw a dear friend from South Africa who I thought had left Israel already. He told me the good news that he is working on a shidich which is BH nearly finalised, he is also BH going to make aliya.
Now I knew why I had to come home exactly that minute or I would have missed him. I gave him a bracha to be matzliach and told him I am waiting to hear good news.

We have been having a lot of good news lately, 2 rashaim despatched and another one not quite despatched last night. Many more to be despatched due to that wonderful ill, you could say HELPS from on high.

Mashiach is here I can feel it, may we all have good news speedily in our days.

For the past 3 months I have been concentrating on upgrading my Hebrew reading and writing ability. I have become a translator from Hebrew into English. It is very rewarding, it was an uphill battle to learn Hebrew.

In the last three months Shaihale has grown and flourished B"H
He now walks and he is starting to talk. A new word every day. He says musika music in Hebrew, yesterday his ganyenets heard him say tapuach apple, he is learning the fruits of Roshashana
He says mudi short for chamudi cute in Hebrew, of course we call him mudi all day long.

He is living proof of the reward for mitzvos, all the constant mitzvos of loving and caring for him by so many people over the last 4 1/2 years have resulted in a beautiful healthy happy boy who constantly laughs and teaches us how to love life. Our little walking miracle. May he be blessed with a happy year, healthy year of great spiritual growth

Shaiahle is now eating with a spoon. When I feed him he takes the spoon and together we feed him. He is determined to drink and so when I wash him, he puts his mouth to the tap. I give him juice in a bottle with thick and easy. He is taking more and more steps every day. Tomorrow someone from the social welfare department is coming to see him I hope they will register me as his foster mother. I am going to ask the social worker to please give me another Downs child so Shiahale will have a brother or sister his own age at home. On Thursday I was given a parcel of girls clothes. I hope this is Hashem preparing me for a girl to foster or adopt.

Last week I helped Rebbitzin Bulman organise her files to send to the publishers for her book. Rebbitzin Bulman is a wonderful Rebbitzin, you don't come across people like her very often. She reminds me a lot of her dear husband Rabbi Nachman Bulman zt"l. He lived in our neighbourhood, people used to go to him for marital advice and he saved many marriages. Such a kind gentle couple, he always gave us brochas and encouagement. He makarived so many people, he is loved by many. I wish the family would write a book about him

Medical associations and chessed

Most people know Yad Sarah but many people do not know that there are many medical organisations to help the sick in Israel

There are also Rabbis who give advice and who are experts on medical conditions operations etc

So if you are confused or you are not getting the right care from your medical aid or if you have a life threatening condition contact me and I will tell you who to talk to

Refuah shelema

Shaiale is now feeding himself

He takes Bamba and puts it into his mouth. He has one in his mouth and tries to get another one in at the same time

Today we gave him a banana and he held it and ate it by himself

What nachas I got.

It is wonderful to see his progress

Yesterday he took four steps by himself, B'H he will be walking soon

Yesterday was Lag Beomer we had a wonderful time until 3 pm

Suddenly a ram kol went round asking everyone to go to the Beit Knesset to say tehillim because of the matzav

There had been an accident on the way back from Meron

Our Chazon Rabbi Agasi was badly injured

This is very sad, he is such a tzadik a young man with many young children

The family lives across the road from us and we hear him sing at the shabbos meals, he has the voice of an angel.

We also go the shul where he is the chazon

He is a man of great chesed and has helped us many times

Refuah shlema Rabbi Agasi we are saying tehilim for you we are shedding bitter tears and we are begging Hashem to grant you a speady recovery

Rabbi Agasi had gone to the kever of his great grandfather a great rabbi on Lag Ba omer

David put Lechai Dodi on Shaiahle's big mac. He played it for 2 weeks

Then on shabbos it was too cold to take him to shul so I stayed in with him and sung Lechai Dodi to him.

He loved it and laughed

I looked at him and said tegid Dodi and he looked at me and said Dodi

This shabbos he went out onto the merpeset before shabbos came in and he sang and welcomed shabbos in his own language, he said Dodi a few times

Then the shabbos siren on our roof went off and he started to cry and crawled inside

On shabbos morning I took him to shul

We were sitting in the second row. When the Torah came out he crawled to the machitza and stood there trying to get as near to the torah as possible

He is truly a very great neshoma

Yad Yerachmiel helps people who live in Israel. Those who are helped on a daily basis are people who need assistance filling out forms in Hebrew, applying for social services, obtaining medical services in the hospitals and clinics. Mothers having babies and families with legal problems.