Ways to Make a Difference

ADI’s innovative Tactile Library Program pairs storybooks with lifelike puppets, communication boards and other sensory-stimulating paraphernalia to transform stories into exciting, multisensory experiences enabling children of all abilities to enter, enjoy and benefit from the magical world of books.

The innovative Snoezelen multi-sensory room stimulates residents’ senses in a padded, all-white room by incorporating delicate fiber optics, a colorful slide screen, soft music and more for an optimal sensory stimulation experience and an inviting and relaxing environment.

Animals roam free throughout the Safari Petting Zoo, enabling close contact with visitors. Specially trained staff understands how to adapt interaction with the animals to meet the needs of ADI residents and outpatients and to find appropriate methods to reach defined therapeutic goals. Animals are also brought to the homes of residents unable to go to the Safari.

Creating and maintaining a relationship with the horse includes working within the animal’s natural habitat while feeding, caring for and playing with the horse. In this unique program, interaction between the horse and caregiver creates foundations of empathy, teaching the child to see others' needs, understand social clues, express emotion and foster cooperation.

Modern research has shown that people with intellectual disabilities feel more comfortable and are more likely to socialize with a dog than with humans. By establishing a relationship with “man’s best friend,” ADI residents enjoy the emotional benefits of companionship, unconditional acceptance and love that help them progress and learn to share emotions with other individuals.

The ADI Therapeutic Greenhouse enables residents to learn about care and responsibility as they watch the seeds they planted, nurtured and cared for grow and develop. Residents also make planters and pot the plants which are then sold to the general public. Proceeds from sales are re-invested into the greenhouse.

In a truly groundbreaking program, ADI provides a real and equal opportunity for people with disabilities to work and earn proper wages in a normative and supportive social framework. People with physical, emotional and mild intellectual disabilities cultivate and maintain village grounds as an integral part of ADI’s gardening team. The Gardeners Without Borders Program has often been a stepping stone to entrance into the general workforce.

ADI’s Creative Arts Workshops offer challenging and meaningful vocational activities employing creative solutions in accordance with participants’ varying levels of ability and need. Workshops include digital printing on mugs, paper mache products, ceramic plates and decorative items, Havdalah sets, silk table runners and more, all of which are offered for sale through the ADI Ability Boutique.

In cooperation with the Eleven Floars Foundation of Holland, ADI is changing the face of inclusive employment in Israel by introducing integrative agriculture, providing people with special needs opportunities for equal rights and access to meaningful occupational opportunities. Israel’s first inclusive farm at ADI Negev-Nahalat Eran, a game-changer for farmers and people with disabilities, will be expanded to additional farms throughout the country.

Participation in sports can speed the recovery process for rehabilitation patients, proving to them that their disability does not have to prevent them from benefitting from an enjoyable and active lifestyle. Sports therapy provides emotional, psychological and social benefits, and offers numerous opportunities for inclusive community integration.

Gymboree corners enable ADI children to move around more freely and play with a variety of colorful hoops, cushions, vibrating pillows and activity boards in a safe, padded environment. Placed on the floor, children benefit from movement, change of position and altering sensory stimulation.

Specially designed motorized wheelchairs allow ADI residents to take control of their own mobility from the earliest age. From Wizzibug chairs to switch-operated wheelchairs, ADI residents are on the move to maximum independence.

Every child benefits from fresh air and sunshine, periodic changes of scenery and exciting activities. At ADI, we make sure that our students and residents enjoy the same experiential fun as other children their age, with action-packed summer and winter camps, nature outings, trips to the local mall and more, all of which serve to create happy and stimulating quality lives.

Most ADI residents suffer from respiratory complications and breathing difficulties. ADI’s Respiratory Therapy Program provides residents with the ongoing respiratory treatments that enable them to live quality lives to their maximum ability. 

Music is the key to the soul. At ADI, children and residents learn to use music as an enjoyable and rewarding form of self-expression and social interaction.

With its many physical and emotional benefits, hydrotherapy is one of the most enjoyable and beneficial therapeutic avenues available for children with severe disabilities. Hydrotherapy improves and strengthens physical abilities, coordination, sensory-awareness and the respiratory and pulmonary systems and enhances quality of life through the positive release of energy and building self-esteem.

Residents and outpatients at ADI learn to express feelings and understand their surroundings as they enjoy various forms of art and artistic expression, leading to feelings of accomplishment and increased confidence.

ADI’s pioneering advanced Alternative Communication Program utilizes cutting-edge augmentative communication technologies to find the optimal communication method for each resident.

Assessment and treatment of communication challenges and disorders through language intervention activities thwart frustration as ADI children learn to verbally express their wants, needs and feelings. ADI Communication Therapists also help improve congenital or acquired eating and swallowing disorders, enabling children to eat and enjoy regular food.

Employing numerous original and stimulating supportive activities, ADI Occupational Therapists help improve the mental and physical health of children and young adults through encouragement and motivation to reach maximum levels of independence. 

ADI physiotherapists address and challenge disabilities through innovative exercises and practices that help residents and patients improve functioning and overcome congenital or acquired physical limitations.

ADI’s comprehensive special education school system is tailored to meet the unique challenges and individual abilities of residents and children with disabilities from surrounding communities between the ages of 3 and 21.

ADI Negev’s Smart Classroom is equipped with a mobile communication computer, touch screen and projector that enable the teacher to project the communication board directly onto the wall.

The Life Skills Program at ADI enables maximum possible resident participation in everyday activities such as food preparation, laundry, setting the table and more, increasing self-confidence and feelings of purpose.

ADI 4 U is an information center for the community at large, offering free advice and assistance to parents of children of all ages with special needs and complex medical and developmental situations.

The Center’s goals are to offer a shoulder to lean on, provide a supportive social network, assist parents during the primary stages of diagnosing and defining their child’s situation, impart accurate information regarding accessing and utilizing social benefits/rights, and guide parents to the relevant agencies to care for their child.

Finding one’s way through the special needs maze is not a one-time challenge. ADI 4 U is a continual presence, helping parents and families at life’s many crossroads, assisting and advising as children grow older, needs change, and new situations arise.

The Support, Information and Guidance Hotline is a call center, providing parents with an attentive ear and support by offering information and guidance.

The ADI 4 U Hotline offers free advice and assistance to parents of children of all ages with special needs and complex medical and developmental situations. Available and accessible to the community at large, the Hotline offers a shoulder to lean on, provides a supportive social network, assists parents during the primary stages of diagnosing and defining their child’s situation and helps navigate the often complicated options available in the realm of continuing care for older children with disabilities. The ADI 4 U Hotline operates as a liaison between families and existing facilities, imparting accurate information regarding accessing and utilizing social benefits/rights and guiding parents to the relevant agencies to care for their child.

Manned by an experienced social worker, the Hotline is the first point of contact, providing subsequent follow-up and taking an active role in finding appropriate solutions, often able to cut through otherwise cumbersome bureaucracy. Some parents choose to call in anonymously, allowing them to express otherwise pent-up feelings and emotions.
Contact ADI 4 U 1-800-201-077 (Israel only) / [email protected] 

Special Babysitter Program – Connecting families of children with disabilities to babysitters with experience in the field of special education.

The ADI 4 U Special Babysitter Program began as a small grassroots initiative and has grown into a nationwide operation, boasting a strong presence and following throughout Israel. Through Facebook and WhatsApp groups, parents advertise their need and potential respondents – special education students, caregivers, National Service volunteers, etc. with experience in the field of special education – answer according to availability. The project aims to allow parents of children with special needs to spend quality time with each other and/or with their other children. By engaging a babysitter capable of caring for their child with special needs, parents who heretofore had to stay at home or take turns participating in family events are able to go out together or with their other children — to family events, dinner at a restaurant, the theater or even just a walk in the park.

Likewise, the potential babysitters, most often special education, nursing, paramedical or caregiving students, get hands-on experience taking care of children with special needs and a real-time, close-up view of the life and challenges of a family with a child with disabilities while earning some extra money to support themselves during their studies.

To join the group in your area, send a WhatsApp message to 055-687-6741 / [email protected]
Join our Facebook group: בייביסיטר מיוחד במינו (Very Special Babysitter)

ADI 4 U Support Groups offer enriching and supportive opportunities for families of children with disabilities to come together to voice their concerns, garner support and discover new avenues that will enable them to move forward with their individual challenges. In response to the unique situations confronting parents, siblings or grandparents of children with disabilities, ADI 4 U provides separate sessions geared to the individual needs of each segment of the family circle.

Parents Guiding Parents – A unique program in which experienced parents guide other parents facing similar challenges.

ADI 4 U provides a Parent-to-Parent Support Group, putting new parents in contact with parents who have dealt with similar situations. ADI locates parents willing to serve as mentors, providing them with initial training and periodic counseling sessions. The group is meant to complement available social services, offering empathy and understanding as well as personal experience-based suggestions and information.

ADI 4 U reaches out to the community, offering educational events to promote inclusion and acceptance of people with disabilities within society at large.

Additionally, ADI 4 U sponsors various programs addressing current issues such as: the rights of working parents, solutions for keeping busy while at home, economic assistance, dealing with the family during times of crisis, etc.

Special events include study days and conferences for professionals, lectures, informational and activity booklets for parents and children, instructional videos and training courses – all on topics related to special needs and the family.

Hydrotherapy, with its many physical and emotional benefits, is one of the most enjoyable and beneficial therapeutic avenues available for children with severe disabilities.

ADI recently launched a new empowerment project providing toddlers with specially-designed motorized wheelchairs, allowing them to take control of their own mobility already from the age of one year-old.

ADI’s residential facilities offer a warm, homelike environment where the children receive the support they require for all daily and personal activities.

ADI uses various multisensory therapy tools and environments such as therapeutic gardening, sensory activity walls, darkrooms, mobile multisensory device kits and Snoezelen to stimulate the senses of residents, helping them experience the sights, sounds and feel of the world around them.

ADI’s intensive Paramedical and Creative Arts Therapies Program is a flagship program, providing each child with an individualized multidisciplinary treatment plan.

Forging a connection between the patient, the caregiver and the horse is the cornerstone of ADI’s equine therapy program.

Every child learns differently. This means that a simple activity like story time can be challenging for some, which is why ADI developed the Tactile Library Program.

ADI's Fitness Room enables its residents to enjoy working out in an enjoyable and normative manner, while under professional supervision.

Most ADI residents suffer from respiratory complications and breathing difficulties, often leading to pneumonia and hospitalization.

Most of the children and adults at ADI are nonverbal; others have severe language impairment. To secure each individual's ability to communicate, ADI has pioneered an advanced Alternative Communications Program. Communication and rehabilitation therapists utilize cutting-edge alternative and augmentative communication technologies to find the optimal communication methods for each resident. This promotes comprehension and expression; enhances emotional connections with family, friends, and caregivers; and leads to a marked increase in cognitive level and learning capacity.