As part of our month-long series dedicated toJewish Disability Awareness Month，Benay shares her success at mainstreaming her son on the autism spectrum into a Jewish day school classroom.
我们的儿子第一个
siddur
（祈祷书）上周，一句话来说，这太神奇了。一年前，我从来没有料到他会登上那个舞台。事实上，我深信恰恰相反——我儿子根本不会上犹太日校，let alone participating in the first gradesiddur仪式。我深信不疑，我博客的他和我们新的当地社区不太可能Jewish day school成为一个对手。
我从来没有这么高兴地说我错了。
我们的儿子diagnosed作为在Autistic spectrum当他两岁的时候。Thanks to an incredible team of therapists providing,among other things,speech and occupational therapy，他取得了惊人的成就。But still,到了上幼儿园的时候，他仍然缺乏与年龄相适应的社交和游戏技能，他避免尝试新事物，and he struggled to appropriately express and temper his emotions.So no one said we should consider Jewish day school.Nor did anyone recommend we consider a mainstream classroom.相反，我们为他注册了一个公立学校的课程，在那里他在一个独立的教室里接受了强化的演讲和职业治疗，while spending increasing periods of time in a mainstream classroom.这是一个很棒的节目，and three-quarters of the way through the year,他和同龄人交往，not tantruming,结果，几乎一整天都在mainstream classroom.
Before we knew it,first grade was approaching–and his teachers recommended a placement in a mainstream class in our local elementary school.But because of all the progress he had made,我们社区新开设的犹太日学校也提供了小型班和额外的关注，Rockland Jewish Academy（RJA）我们也意识到犹太日校,第一次，an option.面对两种学校之间的选择，both of which seemed risky,我们追求我们和儿子想要的——RJA。
There were no guarantees.We already knew that not every school (public or private) would be a good fit for our son,因此，我们探讨了rja的可能性，因为我们知道这样做对任何人都没有好处。仍然，我们知道我们儿子一心想去那里，and we threw ourselves into making his enrollment a success.
We were (and are) clear and honest with the school about our son's needs,and how we can all partner together.每个人都有一个学习曲线，当然，但我认为我们诚实的基础是我们儿子迄今为止成功的一个重要原因。
But the other reason for his success is that RJA has really embraced his inclusion in the school community.我们与儿子的老师密切合作，speech therapist,职业治疗师和学校辅导员试图在小问题变得巨大之前解决它们。
西德杜仪式前几周，我们儿子的犹太教老师在家给我们打电话。The class had been practicing for weeks;our son was excited to sing every song and speak his parts.但是在最近的学校图比什瓦celebration,其他学生为他的班级表演鼓掌后，他有点崩溃了。他的老师很紧张，因为在西德杜仪式上鼓掌会让他感到不安，and would later be upset with himself that he had such a public reaction.She wondered what we could do to help him.
Clapping has always been one of those unexplainable things that bother our son.He had no problem clapping for other people,但是他哭了tantrumedwhen other people clapped for him,不管我们解释了多少次，这是一个很好的手势。He could not explain why he got so upset;he just couldn't find the words.他不想心烦意乱，but couldn't figure out how to stay in control of his emotions each time it happened.
We agreed I would continue to try to figure out what about the clapping was bothering him.他的老师会在练习中加入一些拍手动作，这样他就可以适应了。最后，之前siddurceremony,这对他来说是合情合理的。Clapping,he explained to me,是一个聋子如何知道有人在说恭喜。考虑到这一点，拍手不再可怕，他接着收到了siddur除了一年级的其他同学——鼓掌等等。
当我们的儿子接受了他的悉德，I was incredibly proud.但更令我自豪的是，看到我们“村”里所有和我一样自豪的人：我们的家庭，RJA工作人员，parents and friends,and the rabbis from our犹太会堂.Inclusion of children with disabilities is difficult,在任何情况下都不可能做到。但当我在西德杜仪式上环顾房间时，我非常感谢包容为我们的儿子工作，让他成为RJA神奇社区的一员。
Our son may learn differently than others and he may have some social quirks that other kids his age don't.但我们的儿子也同样热爱犹太教，if not more,than the next child,他应该得到和其他人一样的机会来接受我们的宗教。RJA也有同样的信念，and regularly accommodates his different learning styles and needs so that he can be as successful as his classmates.
Last year at this time,I didn't know what to expect in terms of where our son fit into our Jewish community.And while I know there are no guarantees,for right now RJA is a great fit.For our son's part,he is already talking about what his
chumash
（托拉的印刷形式）仪式将是这样的。That's a goal I can get behind,我认为RJA也可以。
This post is part of a节理系列with 苹果beplayKveller & Matan during February's Jewish Disability Awareness Month.通过宣传，教育和培训机会Matan使犹太社区能够包括有特殊需要的儿童。更多信息更多信息，拜访他们website.
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