Programs

Family Vacation
The summer vacation brings with it several challenges to families with blind and visually impaired children. Planning a suitable vacation is one of these challenges. ELIYA is aware of the need for a relaxing and unifying vacation and therefore organizes …
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Physiotherapy
Our need to move is ingrained, just like the need for food and love. Sight is the main element in our motivation to move: a baby raises his head to see his mother’s face, he reaches out for a toy and then he crawls …
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Summer Camps
Many ELIYA graduates, integrated into mainstream education during the year, face a problem when the summer begins: the day-camps providing activities for many children throughout Israel don’t offer a solution suited to the special needs of blind and visually impaired children. That is why …
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Speech Therapy
Effective communication is essential for full integration in society. Before learning to speak all children are exposed to “prelanguage” – the first step in developing communication skills. “Pre-language” for the seeing child generally involves visual experiences, such as direct eye contact, …
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Parents and Babies
Background: The program for parents and babies in ELIYA started many years ago in response to the need for early intervention among infants under one year old with vision loss and in some cases also with developmental delay. In ELIYA there were already …
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Improving Vision Function
Although we cannot change the sharpness of the visually impaired child’s sight, we are able to improve his vision function. The level of vision function influences the entire functional ability of the visually impaired child and it varies from person …
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Music Therapy
“Music does not represent life: it is life (Charles Abes) Music is an art that enables expression, connection and communication. Music therapy is a methodical process of intervention, based on the use of musical experiences in the framework of the …
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Hydrotherapy
Hydrotherapy treatment uses water to strengthen muscle power using resistance, thereby normalizing tone, and improve breathing functions with the help of hydrostatic pressure and so on. Hydrotherapy provides an answer to a variety of problems and needs for a large …
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“Etgarim” Association Activity
Blind and visually impaired children often suffer from developmental delays due to their disability. These delays lead to low self-esteem, a tendency to stay in one place and fear experimenting with new places, in addition to other difficulties. “ETGARIM” activities …
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Massage and Shiatsu
Massage Massage is beneficial for all, body and soul. Awareness and appreciation of our body comes even before integration into society at large. Through positive and soothing physical means, the masseur/masseuse reinforces our positive body image. At ELIYA we implement …
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Occupational Therapy
Visually impaired and blind infants suffer from delayed motor development due to the following causes: Lack of interest in surroundings which they don’t see and are not aware of Anxiety and fear of investigating the surroundings that they perceive as …
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Animal assisted Therapy
Animals are an inseparable part of our lives. Whether one loves them or fears them, helps them or hurts them, children cannot feel indifferent to them. The contact with animals enables easy and intuitive communication that relies on emotions, body …
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Art Therapy
The project rational: The child’s natural language is play and arts & crafts, his images language and his imaginary world are reach and active. At the stage when the child is having difficulties to verbally express his feelings; the “products” …
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Occupational Therapy
Occupational therapy is a profession that assists children with physical, developmental or behavioral disabilities, to acquire higher ability for carrying out significant daily activities. Occupational therapy’s goal is to help the child to function independently as much as possible in …
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Snoezelen
The Snoezelen is a therapy room. The room includes mattresses, lights, sensations and sounds. Through multi-senses stimulation that is tailored according to the will, need and ability of each child, it is possible to influence different developmental fields. Snoezelen treatment …
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Spouses meetings
The ELIYA kindergarten opens its gates not only to the blind children but to their entire family as well. One of the activities dedicated to the families is sibling meetings, where brothers and sisters are invited to spend an entire …
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Guide Dogs
A central goal in ELIYA is to enable blind and visually impaired children to be independent and secure. Learning how to use guide dogs in order to increase mobility is important for blind children for a variety of reasons – …
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Bicycle Riding
Using the Bicycle for Treating Handicapped Children Bicycle riding has both health and social advantages for most people. It constitutes a physical aerobic activity that engages large muscle groups using something that is readily available from childhood up through old …
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Preparation for Braille
Braille reading is taught in the first grade. Much preliminary work is required to prepare the children before they are ready to learn to read Braille. At ELIYA, this preliminary work to acquire the necessary skills begins at a very …
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Puppet theater
How do you get a blind or visually impaired child to “see” or “visualize” a bird flying? So many things in the world are clear to us because we see them and take them for granted. Try explaining, without using …
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Vision instructor
.The Vision instructor at ELIYA is responsible for coordinating between the different specialists who contribute to each child’s care, Integrating different kinds of treatment into a single program. In this way, assistance with vision can help the child to progress …
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Visual Training
Improvement of visual function begins with the utilization of basic visual skills: focusing, tracking, scanning. These skills are so natural to most of us that we do not need to practice them. Visual exercises help the visually impaired child to …
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