Out of a desire to influence and advance the lives of the special needs sector in Israel and around the globe, Shalva operates a training center with the aim of increasing worldwide awareness about people with special needs and their families.
Training of Medical, Nursing, Social Work Students
In-depth workshops are offered to medical, nursing and social work students, covering subjects that are not found in the regular curricula. Led by the professional Shalva staff, they observe the Me & My Mommy Program or the Rehabilitative Day Care Center program. Afterwards, they discuss what they observed. In doing so, they acquire the tools to deal with the special needs population in the future with a deeper understanding and heightened sensitivity.
Tests from the workshops have revealed that these students gained a deeper connection to the special needs population and, consequently, feel less intimated and afraid of interacting with them. After these workshops, these future professionals are less likely to judge or avoid interacting with people with special needs.
Cooperation with Institutions
- Hebrew University School of Social Work & Social Welfare
- Hadassah School of Nursing
- Hadassah Medical School
- Students studying special education throughout Israel
- Students studying speech therapy throughout Israel
Training Programs at Shalva
In the Rehabilitative Nursery, we train people to become professionals:
Students studying special education - first, second and third year students of David Yellin College and Beit Yaakov Seminaries. This is their internship/rounds/stag. Once or twice a week, they observe nursery teachers communicating with the children and individual treatment of the teacher.
Students studying speech therapy - from Neve Yerushalayim Women's College and from the Jerusalem branch of the University of Tel Aviv. They come twice a week and treat the children individually under the guidance of the speech therapist.
Second and third year students studying social work at Hebrew University - The students treat participants of the Afternoon Program individually with the cooperation of the families. They also do group therapy as part of their organized annual project. Every student gets two families to treat individually, one from the Me & My Mommy Program and one from the Rehabilitative Nursery Program.
Hydrotherapy - Internship/stage/rotation in the therapeutic swimming pool. Every day, women studying hydrotherapy come for internship/stage/rotation to work with the babies.
Internship Rotation/Residency - For people studying special education and animal therapy. In the 4th year, the Ministry of Education requires them to work alongside a supervisor who trains and then evaluates the students several times throughout the year.
Tours - College and university students throughout Israel are eager to have in-depth tours of the Shalva facilities. The purpose is to acquaint them with the special needs population and Shalva's professional and specialized programs.
Seminars for Professionals
Shalva hosts seminars for professionals with the goal of providing tools to cope with special circumstances; for example, a yearly seminar for the senior staff of Hadassah hospital, where they discuss different issues such as the effect of the first 72 hours after the birth of a special needs child.
Enrichment of High School Students
Students from dozens of high schools come to Shalva every year for workshops and enrichment tours. For most of them, this is their first encounter with special needs children.