by Hadassah Richman, TBHBE What I enjoy most about working with children with learning differences/special needs is how unique each and every child is. Even though the TAP program has taught me so much and prepared me tremendously, it still always depends on the child and the situation and I love being able to use the knowledge I have gotten from TAP and apply it to the classroom. One helpful strategy I learned in the TAP program that I have used is to praise good behaviors not just by saying “good job” or “great work”, but instead being specific to [...]

by Anna Luce, Mishkan Shalom TAP has been an incredibly enriching experience so far. It has changed how I view people with disabilities immensely, and in turn, has changed how I view people and situations as a whole. As a teenager, I am not predisposed to incredible levels of empathy, it’s something most people develop when they’re older. However, working with people who are different from me has helped me harness a great deal of empathy. Through training and experience, I’ve found that disabilities don’t make people any less whole, just different. Extending myself to those who are different, and [...]

by Sydney Brown, BTBJ When I walked into the classroom on my first day, I wasn’t sure what to expect. I sat quietly in one of the too small chairs, waiting for instruction. I tried to learn the names of the children as they walked in, although I knew it would take weeks. Ten minutes past, then fifteen. Then, a child with clear distress walked into the class. I approached him and asked what was wrong. He replied that he did not know where to sit, because nobody had told him yet. In a third grade classroom, this is a peculiar [...]