The Lev Tahor school for autistic students, located in Jerusalem's Neveh Yaakov neighborhood, is slated to move into a new wing allocated by the Jerusalem Municipality after many years in inadequate, overcrowded prefab structures.
The unique program, founded three years ago by Rav Dovid Gartner, has developed techniques to meet the needs of students with varying strengths and weaknesses. Rising awareness of frameworks set up for autistic children has made it possible to enroll them in special programs that fit their unique needs.
Since autism primarily affects the child's ability to communicate, class sizes have to be kept to a minimum to enable the staff members to achieve the goals set by professional supervisors.
Rav Dovid Gartner, who in recent years set up an extensive network of regular and special-ed schools in Neveh Yaakov, has undertaken the important task of alleviating the dire shortage of frameworks to handle the various syndromes associated with autism.
Lev Tahor is launching a new project called My Kitchen, which is designed to hone students' living skills. Every day, working with special guidance team, the students prepare lunch in a specially equipped kitchen. The aim is to teach them how to operate kitchen devices, handle food, communicate with the staff and engage in teamwork.
