Group Therapy for Children and Teens with Learning Disabilities  

Is it Difficult for Your Child to Fit In Socially?

Does He Know How to Play and Communicate Without "Getting Upset"

... And What About the Never Ending Conflicts?

Does Your Child Suffer from a Low Self-Image and a Lack of Self Confidence?

Students with learning disabilities are mainly boys and girls with normal intelligence that get caught up in personal and social hardships since the learning disability influences and is present in different areas of life. These hardships prevent them from actualizing their full potential and frustrate them over and over again.

In Order to Cope With and Solve These Problems, We're Offering a New Treatment Setting:

• An Opportunity to Learn Social Skills in a Group With Others of the Same Age
• Improve Communication with Those Around the Child or Teen
• An Important Contribution to Improving Learning and Behavioral Achievements
• Strengthen Self Image

Forming a positive atmosphere for a frustrated child saturated with failures and rehabilitating his feeling of competence - these are the keys for rehabilitating self image, returning his basic faith in his environment, and aiding with his social difficulties.

From here, he can turn himself towards investing in his studies, actualizing his potential and intelligence, and building his personal future.

The Group is Intended for Children Who Have Been Assessed With:

• Attention Deficit Disorder or Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorder (ADD, ADHD)
• Different Learning Disabilities
• Overly Introverted, Lonely, or Self Isolating Children
• Children Who are Social Victims or are Rejected by Their Peers

The Group's Purpose:

• Fostering the potential to develop social connections and social consciousness
• Regulating of social behaviors like impulsivity, aggressiveness, and anger
• Imparting of social skills and tools for solving daily communication problems - in dealing with parents, teachers, and friends
• Treating tendencies for unnecessary conflicts
• Improving the ability to play, communicate, make friends, and cooperate with others
• Imparting confidence and relaxation in communicating with those in the child's environment
• Support and rescue from "social victimization"
• Strengthening and restoring the child's or teen's self image, "I can..."

Treatment Method:

• Work in small groups according to age and interest
• Building a supporting social group
• Treating social problems at the time they occur
• Social games, simulations, and role playing
• Using music as a tool for self regulation and relaxation
• Directing various interactions between the participants: each one according to his personal needs, in order that he can find his place in social situations
• Teaching the child "to speak with himself" instead of "acting out"
• Replacing problematic and ineffective means of communication with adaptive means of communication

Why Us?

• The Innovation: two counselors- groups leaders working together with a small group
• Small group work with two group leaders makes personal attention and chemistry possible between the group leaders and the children
• The group leaders have extensive experience in group work and proven ability to make connections with children with the most severe difficulties.
• Parents, educators, and teachers praised the recognizable improvement that occurred in students that participated in the groups
• The treatment is done under the professional direction of Dr. Ronit Plotnik - Educational and Developmental Psychology Specialist and expert professional trainer in the field of treatment of learning disabilities.

Instructors

Doron Perel and Hagai Bederman, experienced treatment counselors in group therapy with children and teens with learning disabilities and ADHD.

For further details, please contact T.E.L.E.M., Tel Aviv:

Telephone: 03-699-0511

Email: tlm@macam.ac.il

Hagai Bederman: 052-256-4338

Doron Perel: 054-466-7487

T.E.L.E.M.'s website: www.telem.org.il

The Story of Hagai and Doron

Hagai Bederman and Doron Perel work with children with learning disabilities and ADHD in small groups as group therapy for children's emotional and social problems. The work is done through games and interpersonal interactions within the group.

The treatment was previously carried out with great success in special education settings and today is performed privately.

Hagai Bederman is a master's degree student in the Learning Disabilities Program at Haifa University, with a B.A. in Psychology.

Doron Perel is a master's degree student in Rehabilitative Neuropsychology at Tel Aviv/Yafo Academic College, with a B.A. in Psychology.

Hagai was previously a star waveball player and was even part of the Israeli National Team. Doron was a national swimming champion. Their successes in sports have influenced their work in therapy with those who are in need of support-guidance-encouragement on the way to fulfilling their personal potential.

Both of them believe that learning disabilities and ADHD are present and influence throughout the lifetime, and therefore must receive attention with regards to aspects of life that aren't connected to one's studies.