History
M.T.M. (Matam) was founded in 1993 by a group of parents of children on the autism spectrum who sought a pre-school setting that would be inclusive. Mr. Shai Lifshitz who headed the group, and his wife Michal, have a son on the spectrum that was at the time five years-old. As Matam began to grow, Shai left a lucrative business and took over the leadership of Matam. Today he is the CEO of the organization and one of the experts on early childhood education for autistic children in Israel. Since then Matam has developed into a cluster of nursery and kindergarten classes with a total of 200 children, from ages 1 ½ through 6, including 100 children on the autism spectrum which are integrated into the normative classes.
Mission- Integration and Inclusion
Over the years, Shai has seen with his own eyes how children on the spectrum greatly benefit from integration with normative children of their own age. By interacting on a daily basis with more normative children, the autistic children have personal examples to emulate. They learn many ways of communication and behavior from this on-going interpersonal contact.
Program
Matam provides each child with a tailor-made combination of interventions, including para-professional treatments, psychological support, and DIR or ABA methods. (These are two internationally recognized methods of helping young children on the spectrum develop verbal, social and cognitive skills.) Matam is one of the few programs in the world where DIR and ABA live in harmony under one institutional roof as we adjust each child’s program according to his/her needs and their parents preferences.
Each class of normative children includes up to 6 children with special needs. In addition to the main nursery school teacher, each class has an additional special education teacher, aide, and national service volunteer to insure successful integration of the special needs children.
The high quality of the educational program is reflected in the high enrollment for the normal mainstreaming classes. The classes draw children from all over Jerusalem. The fact that the kindergarten is sought after is an expression of its excellence.
Professionalism
Matam maintains a high level of professional manpower with an active program of ongoing in-service training. Each regular class teacher and paraprofessional has weekly supervision. This professionalism is reflected in the fact that Matam is used as a field placement for trainees from various teacher training colleges and for paraprofessional trainees.
The nursery school classes and the kindergarten are recognized by the Ministry of Education and the special education program is jointly approved by the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Health. The special education program is a licensed Rehabilitation Day-care Center specializing in autism approved by the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Social Welfare. Each of these offices carry out site visits and evaluations of the program at least once a year.
We work in close cooperation with Alut, the national association for autism, but have no formal relationship with them.
In the spirit of inclusion, Matam has also been active in promoting services for its graduates in their continuing educational paths. One such project was the establishment of an inclusive elementary school where autistic children are mainstreamed. Currently it is advocating for the establishment of a post-high school transitional preparatory program for autistic young adults to prepare them for vocational skills and independent living.