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The Jewish Press, Wednesday, December 20, 2006
Arrowsmith Program For Learning Difficulties In Its Second Year At Hebrew Academy of Long Beach
By: Overjoyed Parents

Dear Rabbi Glass,
 
My husband and I want to thank you for accepting our son into your wonderful school for the Arrowsmith Program. As an educator, I understand the methodology of the Arrowsmith Program. Amazingly, it has been only three months and already we can see that our son has been given back his future. We sent you an anxious, frustrated child and because of Arrowsmith, he is becoming a happier, more self-confident boy.
 
Whereas previously many accommodations were made for his poor short-term memory, disorganization and processing, in the Arrowsmith Program you are bringing him up to the level of his peers. Instead of a future of relying on the pity and patience of others, we now look forward to seeing a child who has the same chance to succeed as his peers.
The following are some examples of changes we have seen in our son:
 
Just three months ago, he was unable to take part in a normal conversation. Every sentence someone uttered was answered with the word “what.” The question had to be repeated several times for him to make sense of it. He would avoid talking to friends because he didn’t want them to make fun of him.
 
Today, just three months later, we hardly ever hear him say “what” anymore. We feel like we are finally “getting to know” our son. He can now tell us what he’s thinking. This inquisitive child is no longer just a sweet “presence” in the room, but a contributing, interesting person to be around.
 
My friends noticed that when they call, he now answers the phone with “hello, who is this?” as opposed to answering with “what?” They asked me if I started coaching him on how to answer the phone. I said, “Yes. I’ve been coaching him for 10 years.”
Arrowsmith accomplished in three months what I couldn’t do in 10 years.
 
My husband took him to our local Motzaei Shabbos Learning Program and noticed that he can grasp concepts much faster than before. He understood the concept of ma’aser immediately and even had a good question to ask the rav. (If your money is stolen, do you still have to give ma’aser?) Now I know that as an adult, he will take part in shiurim. (And who knows, maybe even give them!)
 
Obviously, we still have a long way to go with him but his amazing progress so far speaks for itself, and we are confident in future results.
 
When people ask me the difference between Arrowsmith and other programs for children with learning issues, I compare it to a blind man. Would he rather use a seeing-eye dog to compensate for his inability to see, or be given back his sight? This is the program that all parents of children with learning issues have long dreamed of.
 
He who saves one life is as if he has saved an entire world. Our son means the world to us.

Thank you.
 
 
A staff writer adds:
 
Barbara Arrowsmith Young, born with learning disabilities, was inspired to create the innovative Arrowsmith Program in 1978. Young designed exercises to directly strengthen the cognitive deficits that underlie such disabilities. Relying on years of research, Young learned that the brain can be modified and learning disabilities are not an unchanging fact of life. For nearly three decades, Young’s techniques have been successfully utilized in public and private schools throughout her native Canada.
 
Ever since the Hebrew Academy of Long Beach became the first school in the U.S. to implement the Arrowsmith Program, students, teachers and parents have had the opportunity to witness the fruits of Arrowsmith’s labor. “Formal testing has yielded data that demonstrates the progress these students have made in 10 months,” Rabbi Dr. Heshy T. Glass, HALB’s principal, reports.
 
Statistics reveal the following:
 
1) Reading comprehension scores increasing within a range of 1.5 years to 5.2 years of improvement.
 
2) Reading speed scores showing .9 years to 3.8 years of improvement.
 
3) Wide Range Achievement Math Test scores improving anywhere from .8 years to 3.3 years.
 
“As a result of these improvements,” Rabbi Glass says, “two Arrowsmith students are enrolled in the Gruss Life Monument Funds’ Excellence 2000 gifted math and science program. These students were not able to demonstrate their intellect in the past because of the block of their learning difficulties.”

Not surprisingly, HALB has been inundated with calls from parents. In addition, the word began to spread well beyond Long Island that Rabbi Glass invited Annette Goodman to present the Arrowsmith Program to principals from around the country at a consortium of Jewish Day Schools.
 
“We applaud your vision and compassion in implementing this program,” wrote a parent to HALB. “In other schools, a child gets a modified program if the material is too difficult, a child who has a poor memory is taught mnemonics, a child who is disorganized gets extra reminders, etc. HALB is the only school that offers the Arrowsmith Program that fundamentally changes a child’s abilities.”
 
For more information on how to bring this program to your child’s school and to access a video, visit www.arrowsmithschool.org