CAHAL is a partnership, serving students in 11 yeshivas in the 5-Towns, Far Rockaway, West Hempstead, Queens and greater Nassau County. Each school has children that require a program like CAHAL, yet most do not have enough students on the same grade level to open a class, nor the funding to provide related support services or professional guidance. Only through the yeshivas’ joint efforts and CAHAL’s outstanding system of classes and services do the children with learning differences have a school to call their own. As a consortium, decision-making is a joint process, with the involvement of principals and lay leaders from each school. In a beautiful display of unity, meetings and continuous discussions are held each year to assess the needs of CAHAL and the children in the community.

CAHAL classes are located in the community yeshivas and Bais Yaakov schools. Our classrooms are not identified differently, and there is no sign on the door that says “CAHAL.” Our students and mainstream students jointly participate in all non-academic activities such as recess, lunch, gym, art, music, science, and grade level special programs and events. The students are included as students of the host school, rather than students of CAHAL.

The goal of the program is to enable the students to return to their mainstream school. As the children develop their learning and social skills, CAHAL will mainstream them into the regular classes. The fact that CAHAL classes are located in the local yeshivas rather than in a separate school helps to facilitate and streamline the mainstreaming process. There are no travel or transportation issues to delay or impede this process. Many children are mainstreamed for one or more academic periods a day.

At CAHAL, the small classes, highly individualized attention (4 to 1 student to teacher ratio with a maximum of 12 students) and uniquely designed programs encourage and foster the children’s success, preparing them for advanced studies and adulthood.