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Camp offers option for special needs kids, sense of inclusion By Raphael Ahren Vacation time can provide a serious challenge to a mother like Miriam Avraham whose youngest child has a mild version of Down syndrome. How does one fill the many long and lonely afternoons? Her daughter Adina, 12, attends a special education school, but until recently there was no summer camp that fit her needs. "Year after year I was looking for some kind of solution, and there was none," said Avraham, who moved from New York City to Jerusalem nearly 30 years ago. Beth Steinberg, of Brooklyn, NY, immigrated to Israel in August 2006 and found herself in a similar situation. Her youngest child, too, was diagnosed with Down syndrome, and had never been able to find a summer camp willing to accept him. "Autistic children have camp all summer," Steinberg said. "That's wonderful, but why isn't there enough coverage offered for children in inclusive schools and in special education?" Advertisement In May 2007, Steinberg and Avraham decided to take matters in their own hands. The result was Shutaf, a Jerusalem-based community for children with light to moderate retardation or learning disabilities and emotional or behavioral problems. Today, Shutaf (Hebrew for "partner") offers several programs, among them a four-week summer camp for nearly 50 children and adolescents. According to the two co-directors, Shutaf is the first program here for those who fit neither in camps for regular nor heavily handicapped children. Yaacov Braun for example, has Down syndrome but attends a regular school. For his parents it was very important that the 14-year-old meet other people who have the same disorder, said his mother, Ariel, who moved to Israel from New York 40 years ago. "Everything he does, there's never someone with Down," she said. Actually, not all the children who attend Camp Shutaf have special needs. About 25% consist of regularly developing children. "There's nothing wrong with each kid working according to his or her capacity," Steinberg said. "That's what inclusion is supposed to be all about." Indeed, some regular children like Camp Shutaf especially because it doesn't put pressure on anybody. Talia Kainan, 7, is one of the brightest in her class, according to her mother Lisa. "But we wanted her to have an experience outside the competitiveness of the classroom," she said. "Miriam [Avraham] once told us that Shutaf is the camp where nobody says 'yalla.' We really liked that." Bookmark to del.icio.us   The bigger apple Study shows Tel Aviv is more expensive to live in than New York. When bedbugs bite After 40 years' absence, Israel braces for return of the bedbug.

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