SEAD: A Place for Individualized Jewish Education

Five years ago, S.E.A.D. started as one classroom with two children. Now, it has blossomed into a full-grown institution that has made its mark on the map of Deal. Community schools continue to refer their students, parents keep calling, and each year they open a new class.

S.E.A.D. stands for Special Education Academy of Deal, and it meets a growing need in the community to service children who can’t make it in the mainstream yeshivah. These children would otherwise have no other alternative than public school.

S.E.A.D. is comprised of a highly professional staff trained to meet each child’s needs. They create a curriculum tailor-made for each child. The team consists of an occupational therapist, physical therapist, behavioral therapist, speech therapist and highly qualified teachers with master’s degrees and years of experience. In a mainstream school there is one curriculum for 25 children—in S.E.A.D. there are seven curricula for seven children. Their goal is to help each child succeed to his or her maximum. Besides academics and the above therapies, they provide music therapy, art therapy and gymnastics by trained professionals, to develop each child’s talent and offer opportunities for different learning styles. They have unique computer equipment and programs specially designed to enhance each child’s learning.

There are many children drowning in the mainstream. S.E.A.D. takes them in, equips them with the tools necessary to succeed and sends them back into the mainstream.

Due to a growing demand, they are opening a nursery class this coming year. They already have six children enrolled and the calls just keep coming.

The mothers are desperate. If we don’t open this class, they have nowhere else to turn within the community.

“I prayed and prayed to Hashem that my son could go to a Jewish school,” said one mother. “Thank G-d, S.E.A.D. is the perfect place.”