Liat Baram, Social Worker, MSW, Couples-Family therapist, Beit Issie Shapiro
Grand parenting is often one of the most life-affirmative experiences in the life of an individual. The article describes Grandparents’ Groups  for grandparents of children with developmental disabilities at the Aaron De Lowe Early Intervention Center, Beit Issie Shapiro.

Dafna Kleinman – Director of Development and Social Change division, Beit Issie Shapiro
Majda Mar’i – Director of Sindian Early Intervention Center, Beit Issie Shapiro
The document describes an early intervention program in homes of families of children with disabilities up to the age of 3, in the Arab community in Israel. The program was implemented by the Sindian Center in Kalansua, which is part of Beit Issie Shapiro.

Dr. Miranda-Galarza invites the audience to understand the logic governing day to day life, as well as the experiences of siblings of people with disabilities, in order to improve upon existing and future programs and policy.

The lecture focuses on the great importance of clinical and therapeutic interventions in improving behaviors, parent-child relationship and more in cases of children with fetal alcohol syndrome.

Play is important to children’s development and helps children with disabilities fully realize their potential. LUDI is a pan-European network with representatives of 27 countries which conducts joint activities aiming to study games for children with disabilities. The lecturer descries the network’s structure, importance and activities.

The lecture analyzes different models of play for children with disabilities, while relating to play with objects and with technological means. It describes how technological games are expressed in the participation of children with disabilities in different games and how play related skills improve, while addressing professional and ethical dilemmas and issues and the question whether various computer game and applications encourage playfulness and other play characteristics.

Noa Nitzan – Occupational Therapist, Technology Consulting Center, Beit Issie Shapiro
The iPad is a device that can help children and adults with communication problems, a range of motor difficulties, or various cognitive difficulties. Using this tool, they can acquire personal and social skills and integrate in the community on a normative level, and thus make progress. The article describes the iPad as a tool for self-expression, the implications of its use for the entire family, and its use as an integrative and supportive tool, at school and in leisure time.

Dr. Shimshon Neikrug – Research Consultant, Beit Issie Shapiro
Dr. Dana Roth – Director of Research and Evaluation Unit, Beit Issie Shapiro
Jean Judes – Executive Director, Beit Issie Shapiro
Nuaf Zmiro – Manager of Family Counseling Line, Sindian Center, Beit Issie Shapiro
Families that have children with disabilities face numerous challenges. Arab families in Israel face unique challenges due to their status as a minority group with cultural traditions that differ from those of the predominantly Jewish population. This paper describes their family quality of life (FQOL) as they meet these challenges.

Yitzhak Hirshberg – Director of Beit Issie Shapiro’s Family Therapy Center
The article describes the difficulties that parents of children with disabilities face during emergencies, and advises on how to best cope with these special difficulties.

Shosh Kaminsky, M.S.W., Director of Knowledge Management and Social Change,  Beit Issie Shapiro
Einat Noah, student of community work (under the guidance of the director of community work in school social work at Beit Issie Shapiro)
The siblings of children with disabilities come face to face with society’s prevailing stigmas regarding people with disabilities, the result of ignorance, and lack of information and knowledge. The stereotypes and social problems in accepting the other who is different mean that siblings have to cope with the challenges, difficulties, and complex emotional experiences.
The article describes an intervention program in the sibling’s social environment, aimed at empowering them and creating a change in attitudes towards people with difficulties among the children in their social environment.