Study Goals and Career Options

The goal of “Development of Children with Special Needs” MA program at the Hadassah Academic College is to expand the knowledge of health professionals who are interested and engaged in the field of child development, especially those who work with special needs children, and to instill in them the awareness, the understanding and the importance of multiprofessional approaches.

We believe that these professionals, who carry out such a vital and sensitive role, have an acute need to better understand the principles that govern the work of each and every therapist who treats special needs children, the roles of parents in the raising of their special needs child, and the ways in which to utilize the strengths of children with functional disabilities and their parents in order to enhance the overall care of both the child and the family. During their studies, the students will acquire the tools to develop professionally as well as the skills to manage multiprofessional systems which treat children with special needs. Additionally, participants in the program will be exposed to basic principles of research regarding the development of special needs children.

The proposed program is unique in that it focuses on the development of special needs children from birth to age 18 and hence it is unlike other graduate programs that deal with child development. It should be noted that the diagnosis and treatment of child development in Israel is not restricted to early age. The developmental care system treats children up to the age of 9, although the National Health Law “basket” provides fewer services for children above age 6. Most of the additional elective health insurance programs include developmental services up to the age of 12. Moreover, the difficult somatic cases (Cerebral Palsy, Down Syndrome, autism, etc. which account for about a quarter of the children in the developmental services), are supposed to be cared for by the developmental care system until age 18. For this reason, the program places an emphasis on all ages.

The primary goal of the program is thus the provide the student with broad multiprofessional knowledge regarding the diagnosis and care of children with developmental challenges. The program trains professional managers for the developmental care system, as well as team leaders and trainers who will be able to develop and further existing professional training programs in each of the system’s components. Additionally, the program will deepen the professional’s knowledge in auxiliary areas of care, a fact that is expected to improve the treatment of the child with multiple challenges.

Graduates of the program will be able to join the developmental care system in a variety of challenging positions both in management and in training less skilled workers, and will be able to advance the professional level of therapists in all areas.