The Haifa Learning Enhancement Center was established over 20 years ago in a beautiful building dating back to the Templar Society located in Haifa's German Colony on 16 Lohamei Hagetaot St. As of 1989, the Center has been following its current framework of operations.
The Center's goals are:
1. To treat learning disabled children attending regular preschool and school frameworks who struggle to integrate due to a substantial learning gap of a year and a half and above, as a result of their learning disability.
2. To provide the children's parents with guidance and enhance their ability to cope with their child's unique difficulties.
3. To assist the educational staff at the schools to understand the origin of the students' difficulties and to accommodate their demands accordingly in school assignments and exams.
The Center operates 4 branches (in addition to the main facility):
Nave Sha'anan – 1 Gdaliyahu St.
Kiryat Haim – 10 Shitrit St.
Carmel – 3 Haprahim St.
Chiat Center for the Arab speaking community – 7 Madregot Beit Shearim St.
 

Donors

The Haifa Learning Enhancement Center is a registered non-profit organization (as of 1989) established with the mission of aiding any child with learning difficulties in order to enable him a better starting point in life.

The Center operates 4 branches in Haifa and the Krayot (on the outskirts of Haifa) to which 400 preschool and elementary school children with severe learning difficulties and developmental problems are referred annually. The Center conducts didactic evaluations, builds individual treatment plans and provides support for the child and his family encompassing learning, social and emotional functioning and offers a wide range of treatment by expert professionals.

The Haifa Learning Enhancement Center serves as a warm and supportive home for children from all segments of society who require help. Whether they are children from distressed neighborhoods or affluent areas, whether Jewish or Arab, each child receives a response to his particular challenges and is infused with self belief and hope for a brighter future.

The Center's activity is partially funded by the Ministry of Education and the Haifa Municipality, and is supported by donations and participation fees.

Advancing New Immigrant Children

Many of the children treated at the Center come from financially distressed, new immigrant families from the Former Soviet Union and Ethiopia. These children's parents, who struggle with absorption challenges, lack the necessary resources to help them narrow their learning gaps. Consequently, they deteriorate to the margins of the classroom and are on the verge of being entirely removed from the regular education framework. In many cases, we encounter children, who have ceased to function within the educational system, frustrated parents and school professionals, who have given up after numerous failed attempts.

Each year, the Center embraces and treats 80 children from underprivileged families without receiving compensation. We help them to identify their strengths, build a positive self image and overcome their learning disabilities and social difficulties. From this point on, each child receives an opportunity to realize his potential and become a better citizen and productive member of society.

Chiat Center for Arabic Speaking Learning Disabled Children

The Haifa Learning Enhancement Center established the Chiat Center a decade ago to treat and support learning disabled children from the Arab sector and their families. The Chiat Center treats children aged 7 to 12 from financially underprivileged families. Their parents lack the skills and resources to enrich them with knowledge, develop their language and thinking capacities and help them narrow their learning gaps. Consequently, they confront tremendous obstacles at school, which cause them frustration and despair and often lead them to exhibit violent outbursts and to experience social problems to the point of being removed from class. They need extensive assistance and reinforcement to gather the courage and conviction to adopt learning and coping strategies that will serve them throughout the course of their lives.

The average length of treatment is 18 months and includes remedial education in reading and arithmetic, occupational therapy, speech therapy and arts therapy. The Center employs professionals from the Arab community, who are familiar with its social and cultural sensitivities and equipped with the tools to advance the children.

The Chiat Center is the children's last opportunity to succeed and provides them better prospects for their adulthood future; one in which they will be able to pursue a gainful living and break the cycle of unemployment and distress.

There are but a few informal frameworks which provide a tailored, comprehensive, and professional multi-disciplinary treatment program encompassing the student, family and school staff.

To enable us to continue providing our children with the most advanced methods of support and guidance, we need your help.

For donations, please call 052-8536306 or contact email:nitsatessler@gmail.com

I will be happy to answer your questions, meet with you in person and host you at the Center.

The organization is recognized for contributions as a public non-profit institution in Israel (under section 46 of the Income Tax Ordinance).

Ester Shahar

Executive Director