A Perspective Overview

Brief Historic Review

Al Amal School for special education was established in 1987 within the walls of Old Jerusalem city.  The school began its first year with four classes, incorporating children

with moderate mental disabilities.  Soon, a sister school was established in Jabal Al-Mukabbir and the main school moved to Shu'afat, as the number of classes increases, as well as, the teaching staff.  Since 1999, the school has been head- quartered in Al-Asawiya, Jerusalem.

Description of School Structure

Al-Amal school for special education has 199 students ranging in age between 3 and 21 years of age.  The students are bussed to school by designated vans, bringing the students from various areas of Jerusalem.  An assistant is assigned to each van during transportation of the students.

The school building consists of two levels, a number of playgrounds, and 21 instructional classes; 5 mentally disabled classes, 11 physically disabled classes, 3 physically disabled kindergarten classes, and 2 classes that incorporate both physically and mentally challenged students.

The school provides rooms for Occupational, Physical, and Speech Therapy services;

Social worker; Psychologist; Hydrotherapy Pool; Animal therapy; computer lab;

vocational training store, bank, domestic house, and kitchen; physical

education; agricultural center; and a large auditorium.

The school employs thirty-nine accredited special education teachers, many whom

are pursuing high education degrees.  The school's administration is dedicated to

 providing an atmosphere of "learning", hence, many continuing courses are provided

 for the staff throughout the school year.  Besides the special education teachers, the

school employs 35 accredited special education assistances, a neurologist, six

physical therapists, two occupational therapists, a hydro therapist, a social worker, a psychologist, three secretaries, after school teachers, a cook, four maintenance

personal, and the present administrator Mr. Zahir Herzallah.

The school functions on a 6 day school week throughout the scholastic year. The

scholastic year begins Sept. 1 and ends mid August.  The school provides its students

with therapeutic projects, vocational training, and educational programs.

Types of Departments

The school is divided into the following departments:

Therapeutic department

Kindergarten department

Physically handicap department

Mentally challenged department

Medical/Social department

School Philosophy

The philosophical belief of the school states: "We strive for each student to reach

the highest possible potential in both social skills and educational opportunities

 in accordance to a personally structured curriculum that meets the capabilities of

 that student within the community norms."

According to the school's philosophically, our projects reflect this belief.  The following is a diagram of our projects:

Vocational training projects

Al-Amal Bank       Educational center     Coffee shop project     Store project           

 Domestic Home project      Agricultural project       Ceramic project   

 P.E. project      Computer project       Nutritional project       Animal therapy      

"Challenge" project         Parent-Teacher Bond project

The following is a brief description of the projects listed above:

Al-Amal Bank project:  This project helps the students to understand the importance

 of their financial future, as well as, using the project as a tool for skills building. 

Four students are involved in the project; two students are responsible for the running of

the bank, one student follows-up with the financial status, and one student is the teller.

The project is supervised by a teacher and functions daily for one-half –hour. At the end

 of each week the student's hours are calculated and are paid a financial token for

their contribution.

Educational Center project:  This center is a rich resource of materials for the

 teachers assisting them with their program and visual aid props.  It is also an

 important instrument for our students to collect information for their educational

needs.  The center is equipped with a television, educational videos, and documentary

 CDs, which give an additional educational medium for our students.

Coffee Shop project:  This is a functional coffee shop that serves hot and cold

drinks, cookies and cakes, and other simple desserts, allowing our adolescent

students, mentally challenged and physically disabled, to learn waitressing skills within

 a protected environment.  The students take on all the responsibilities of a waiter;

dressing in uniform, set-up the stations and tables, seating their customers (students

 and staff), taking orders, delivering orders, interacting appropriately, handling the bills,

 and finally cleaning up.

Domestic House Training:  is a project that our students of both sexes participate in.

 The students learn to take-care of a house needs in terms of making beds, dusting,

moping, washing, drying, ironing and folding clothes.  This project is essential for

 our mentally challenged students since many will eventually live independently away

 from home.

Agricultural project:  We have found that this project is not just suitable for our

mentally challenged students, but tap into many of our students' interests.  The project is

 of 2 types; the first is field work, where the students manually plow the grounds of

our school, plant vegetables and legumes rose and flower bushes, and trees.  The

second type is planting in pots and containers leaving the students the responsibility of

its care.  When the plants grow, they are re-planted in the ground or kept in our

 "garden house" at school.

Store Project: The "Al-Amal Youth Store" is a daily operating small store, within the

school premises, that allows all our students to participate in selling simple food products

 to the students and school staff, and to understand how to run a simple business. 

The objective is for the students to practice their math skills using real money, and for

 our students to acquire new terminology and concepts such as profit, lose, sale,

inventory, ordering, and check-listing.  The students are also learning important

morals such as honesty, loyalty and commitment.

Physical Education project:  this project is very important for those students that

suffer from physical disabilities.  Our students are involved in competitive games and

 sports that have encouraged self-confidence, competitive spirit, team work, leadership

skills and patience.  The project is improving muscular strength, coordination and

 function in a fun environment.

Nutritional project:  The project is divided into two parts; the first understanding

 the importance of proper nutrition, health risks from poor nutrition and over-weight,

 and the types of foods that are good for a healthy body.  This information is given in

the form of activities and pictures.  The second part of the project is for the students

 to prepare nutritional meals and snacks in our school kitchen.  Many of our

wheel-chair bond students show signs of obesity, which has made their therapy needs

 and personal independent needs difficult to perform. In retrospect, these students

 must understand proper eating habits for a healthier life.  In addition, this project allows

 for the student to be familiar with the dangers of electric appliances and practice proper

 use of kitchen equipment and utensils safely and harmlessly.

All of these projects strive to create a learning environment that permits our students

to practice their learned skills in a fun, safe, and encouraging atmosphere.  These

 projects bring our students closer to the school staff, their parents, and the

 teacher-parent relationship strengthens.  These projects allow for all participating

members to view success and accomplishments.

In addition to the projects the Al-Amal school also involves the students in a variety

 of activities that include; educational day trips, over-night field trips, community

school visits, cultural assemblies, and religious festivities.

Parent Committee:

The Parent Committee is another important group of individuals that have the interest

of their children and the school as their objective.  They help with solving many of

our students' family problems; financial, medically, and logistically. The committee

holds social events, educational lectures, and medical symposium for both the school

 staff and our students' families. We appreciate their hard work and efforts.

Employee Social Committee

The Employee Social Committee is a project, that the school has adopted, which aims

at providing the employees with outings, social gatherings, and creating an interactive

 tie among the staff members.  This group is very active and provides a creative outlet for

 the employees, held usually after school hours.

Future vision for the school can be stated as such: "braking through obstacles that

 hinder our students from achieving their highest potential and providing them

 the opportunities for social acceptance, personal growth, and honorable living." 

Translated and Edited by

A. Suaifa I. Jaber  OTR

 design by Ali KAshkoosh (c)

ali@alamalses.com

www.alamalses.com