Higher Education and Students with Disabilities
The college of yesteryear is not the college of today. Students with disabilities comprise the most rapidly growing student population on many campuses.
The Staggering Costs of a Special Needs Child
The spectrum of special-needs children ranges from mental to physical to psychological and sometimes all three. A 2008 study by the United States Department of Health and Human Services estimates that 14 percent of children in this country fit into this category, and about 20 percent of families have at least one special-needs child. The definition of a special-needs child can range from one who is diagnosed with a mild learning disability to one who has a life-threatening condition, such as cystic fibrosis. This article will focus on the more severe categories.
Want to Stick to Your Weight Loss Resolution This Year? It May Be More...
While lack of resolve is often blamed for this downfall, new research from gastronomy experts points to more complex reasons for the all too common “weight loss struggle”.
So, you know you need a hearing aid. What now?
Adults who experience hearing loss let an average of seven years go by from the time they realize they're missing things to doing something about it.
A Step Backwards: Disturbing Changes to the NY State Medicaid Waiver in the Works
Fundamental and far-reaching changes are coming that will have a profound effect on every individual in New York State who receives services under the current system for caring for individuals with developmental disabilities.
Getting The Most Out Of Your Farmers Market
It's that time of year again! As each day gets warmer and the sun gets brighter, an often overlooked highlight of summer is the emergence of the best quality fresh produce around – at your local farmers market.
The Ins And Outs Of Visiting The Sick: An Interview With Hospital Chaplain Rabbi...
Some people are naturals at visiting people in the hospital. Others feel awkward: What should I say? How long should I stay? Does the person even want me to come?
The Inevitable and Inescapable Truth: Talking to Children About Death
The news abounds with frightening and catastrophic events from which it is increasingly hard to insulate our children. Should we continue to try to protect our children from an awareness of such misfortune? If we have to resign ourselves to their finding out, how do we help them process such information without causing undue distress and worry?
Common Genetics and Genetic Counseling Myths: Debunked
Genetics is one of those fields that may be shrouded in mystery and perhaps even fright. This is because serious genetic problems are very rare, and therefore most people have never needed to delve into the field or meet with a genetics professional. However, as the use of genetic testing is becoming more widespread and genetic technologies and the scientific understanding of genetics advance, so should the community’s understanding of genetics.
Adult Children Caring For Parents (Part 2): When is it time to bring...
As you explore possibilities to care for your aging parents, and review all the different options, you may decide that having them live with you is the best option. There are certainly challenges to this arrangement, but many people have found that living in a multigenerational house can be an enriching experience for the whole family. However, no matter how close your family relationships are, adding another person to the household changes things. There are many things to take into account when considering this option.
Israel Offers Superior Services to “Special Needs” Olim
New and veteran immigrant (olim) families, who have a special needs child or adult at home in Israel have access to a variety of government and private sector outreach services, which a growing number of Anglo immigrants claim are superior to many services available in the USA.
Important Conversations about Health Care
Articles in the media are recommending a certain kind of “conversation." In an article in the Philadelphia Inquirer in 2010, Michael Vitez describes in detail how a palliative care team brought a family into a comfortable living room for repeated discussions about their mother who had been hospitalized for confusion and falling. Over and over again, they were offered the choice of discontinuing her “aggressive" medical care, but the family held out. They continued her medical treatment.
Revolutionary Israeli Co Signs $8 Million Packaging Deal with Pepsi
Oplon Pure Science, a Rehovot-based developer of anti-bacterial polymer sheets for packaging, has signed an $8 million contract with the Pepsi Corporation to supply...
Chanukah 2017: Modern Day Miracles in the Land of Israel
A look at modern day miracles that are changing the face of Israeli life.
Skepticism And Vigilance Animate Frum Anti-Vaxxers
"There's no nexus whatsoever between Yiddishkeit and the anti-vaccination movement," said Rabbi Kotler.
Outing a Silent Killer: Screening and Beating Lung Cancer
Did you know that lung cancer kills more people each year than colon, prostate, and breast cancer combined? In 2012, this number represented over 160,000 men and women who died from lung cancer, over 25% of all cancer deaths in the United States. Yet this is a treatable disease.
Israeli Buildings Pink-Lit to Fight Breast Cancer
The tall buildings of Haifa University and the Naveh Nof residential Tower in Bat Yam were lit up in pink Tuesday night in solidarity with an international breast cancer awareness campaign.
Treating Crohn’s With Diet
We have all been raised in a culture which we are taught to believe in the “miracles of modern medicine.”
The Montessori Method
We are born to learn, in whatever capacity we are able. We study the world with our senses, and try to understand it. Our special children have more of a challenge, but they are just as interested in knowing what is going on around them. We know that because we observe their keen interest in everything we do and say. We need to nurture this interest, to encourage it.
The Long Road of Stroke Recovery
What does an elected official in his fifties have in common with a young Chassidic father, a young mother who works as a freelance copy editor, and a 21-month old infant? All four individuals, from very different backgrounds and walks of life, suffered a stroke which robbed them of some of their previous abilities, and prompted an individualized recovery process which is likely to last for the rest of their lives.
American-Israeli Startup Creates First Smartphone Breathalzyer Test
A joint American-Israeli startup has developed the world’s first breathalyzer attachment for smartphones, in order to prevent drunk driving.
Infertility Challenges: Facing the Issue with Action, Caring and Coping
*Risa and Eli, a couple married for two years and in their twenties, were anxious to start a family, but found themselves unable to conceive. *Chana, engaged at 39, was worried that at her age it would be difficult to get pregnant. *Miriam, a widow, had three children from her first marriage. Ten years after her husband passed away, she remarried. She was now 37 and her new husband, *Avi was 40. They wanted a child of their own, but close to a year into their marriage, she had not become pregnant – what to do?
Getting Help From Mental Health Guidance Counselors
What began 10 years ago as a small group of volunteers providing mental health referrals within the Jewish community has evolved into a full-fledged mental health referral, education and support organization that takes on 6,000 new patients annually in four major cities across the globe.
Bipolar – Not A Life Sentence
Chaim* was admired in yeshiva for his incredible diligence. His days were consumed with learning and he could be found in the Beis Midrash almost 24/7. For him, sleep was a waste of time. Great things were forecast for his future until neighbors found him lying in the middle of the street in Geula, hallucinating that he was Moshiach. Medications stopped his racing mind but made him feel like a zombie. He became depressed and shell of his former self. His parents thought they were acting responsibly when they had him hospitalized and then put in a hostel.
Dentistry for Special Needs
A recent study from the Tufts University School of Dental Medicine found that people with intellectual and other developmental disabilities are more prone to dental disease than the general population and that further research is required to identify effective interventions.
Making the Multi-Generational Household Work
As Rabbi Meyer Waxman discusses elsewhere in this issue, more elderly parents are being forced, by circumstances, to move in with their adult children, as are more young adults who find themselves compelled to move back into their parents’ home. More adults have become part of the sandwich generation, as members of the six million American households today that span three or even four generations.
Caregiver Conflict: Did We Always Fight Like This?
Now that Pesach and Shavuos have come and gone, we can reflect and review some of the changes we saw in our elderly parents over the past Yom Tov. Siblings who came from a distance might have observed changes that daily, primary caregivers often don’t notice. At the same time, if you are the primary caregiver, Yom Tov may have stirred up some personal questions and feelings.
Two Wings of a Bird
Health has to do with harmony. Harmony with our surroundings. Harmony with ourselves.
Success is within Reach
With the right approach, children with dyslexia can soar.
These High Holidays, try “Green-Cleaning” Your Home
Green cleaning has been defined as sanitary techniques with reduced effects on the environment and health of individuals using a building. In purchasing cleaning supplies from a supermarket, customers should avoid any products containing solvents, phosphates, and other destructive chemicals.