Scholarship Program
Nitzan Branches are frequently approached by local schools so to diagnose and treat children with reading and writing difficulties, and narrow gaps between them and their peers. This is why we need to take action. Specifically, children in the 2nd, 3rd and 4th grades will be assessed. This is an age at which a child’s reading, writing, and math skills are supposed to be fairly well developed. This is a critical age at which children who are thought to be learning disabled should be properly diagnosed so that professional treatment can commence.
Unfortunately, many families who have children with learning disabilities are not able to pay for their professional diagnosis and treatment. Moreover, there is a severe lack of information among populations of low socio-economic status in awareness to learning disabilities, their treatment and prevention, which prevents adequate handling of the situation. However, proper intervention is essential in order to help these children keep up with their classmates, to raise their self-esteem, and to prevent them from eventually dropping out of school.
The Scholarship Program attempts to remedy the situation and help underprivileged learning disabled students integrate into regular educational frameworks and to realize their full potential, rather than giving up on themselves and dropping out of school, as many are prone to do. Once these children are tested and treatment gets underway they can make dramatic improvements, which can raise their chances to succeed in school and eventually integrate in society as productive adults, thus breaking the cycle of poverty.
Scholarships are provided to students who meet criteria set by the welfare authorities as to needed resources. They cover a substantial portion, around 80%, of the cost of diagnosis and remedial education programs administered by Nitzan's branches. .
In the framework of the proposed program, eligible children who are suspected to suffer from a learning disability and are referred to diagnosis in the Nitzan Centers in their city of residence will undergo diagnostic evaluations and will engage in remedial instruction lessons as needed. The students will receive proper professional and emotional support through the relevant Nitzan branches, so that they may realize their full individual potential and enjoy a better quality of life.
The following results are expected:
- 1) Achievement gaps will be reduced between learning disabled children who participate in this project and their peers who do not have learning disabilities.
- 2) Children in the project will demonstrate improvement in other various areas in school, including academic performance, motivation, and behavior.
The emotional condition of the participating children will improve; they will demonstrate increased self-confidence and their social integration with their peers will improve
The project consists of several components:
- 1. Didactic diagnoses will be carried out as well as a treatment program that is created for each learning disabled child, according to the diagnosis results.
- 2. Children will be assigned to treatment groups. The treatments will be carried out in small groups of 2-4 students, based on each child’s particular needs. Treatments will be held twice a week for 20 weeks, and will include remedial lessons.
- 3. Each student’s progress will be monitored on a regular and methodical basis.
At the year’s end, a summary report that documents improvements in each child’s achievements—on the basis of quantitative and qualitative indicators—will be produced in order to consider future treatment options.
The referred pupils will undergo a didactic diagnosis and will be assigned an individual treatment plan which will be conducted throughout the year. The final stage includes collection of data and supporting evidence, followed by analysis of the data and preparation of end of the year report
The program staff includes the branches' directors, all of whom are professionals in the learning disabilities arena. Additionally, the diagnosis and the remedial instruction will be conducted by Nitzan's professional staff which will be reinforced if required.