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NEWS
Israeli Companies Enlist to Support Tishma, a School for
Autistic Students
By Yechiel Sever
Major Israeli companies are enlisting to help Tishma, a
school and center for autistic children, as part of the
firms' involvement in community projects.
With dozens of autistic students enrolled, Tishma is the only
school in Israel based on the Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA)
approach to treatment, which has proven itself in the US as
the most effective way to advance autistic children. This
year the school's budget comes to $1.5 million. Thirty
percent of the budget, about $450,000, is derived from
fundraising by the school administration. With a total staff
of 100, the per-child cost comes to $30,000 a year.
As part of its efforts to obtain financial resources for the
sake of the autistic children, Tishma Director Rabbi Moshe
Weinstein contacted large Israeli companies, asking for
donations, and received positive responses from companies
like Cellcom, Minrav and Nidar.
First International Bank made an especially generous
contribution by paying for the construction of a special
music therapy room with a piano, organ, guitar, bells and
wind chimes, drums, cymbals and other percussion instruments.
Three music therapists work with the children in groups and
one-on-one. The treatment is done with love, warmth and
dedication, under the supervision of Prof. Dorit Avital, who
is renowned for her experience and professionalism.
The children enrolled at Tishma suffer from communication
deficiencies of differing levels. Some exhibit nearly normal
behavior but are disengaged here and there, while others have
virtually no contact with their environment. Music speaks to
all of them, reaching into their own world with its special
qualities.
"This special means of communication known as music makes the
children open up, sing, speak and express themselves through
the magical world of instruments, sounds, song and dance,"
says Rabbi Weinstein. "You can't help but notice the
children's pleasure as they step into the therapy room, the
calm the music therapy provides the child off on a quiet
island inside himself. With the help of the therapist each
and every child finds a way to communication — some
through drums or the piano, and some prefer to sing or dance
— but what they all share in common is an enchanted,
wondrous, special and exciting world called music!"
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