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Even the finest education and school systems in the world tend to fail at

creating a space for their weakest and most vulnerable children, those

born with the need for special care and treatment. Modern society

is focused on preparing young people for productive working lives,

equipping themwith advanced skills with which they can succeed in

today’s technological environment. Often those who may never be

capable of reaching those levels, remain an afterthought. Schools serving

children with communication disorders, learning and developmental

disabilities and other physical and psychological disabilities are rarely well-

equipped and are nearly never custom-built for the their specific purpose.

The true strength of a society should be in the way it takes care for its

weakest members. But even in the most advanced societies, there is

usually a discrepancy between the educational facilities for the strongest

and most vulnerable children.

The Benjamin Rothman School at the Kadoorie Youth Village in Israel’s

Galilee is a unique venture in being a purpose-built school for children

and young men and women suffering from developmental disabilities on

the Autism SpectrumDisorder (ASD). It was founded in 2014, both as

an educational framework for children throughout the Galilee region and

as an environment preparing its graduates towards life as adults in their

communities. As part of the famed Kadoorie Youth Village, which was

founded in 1933 and educated generations of Israeli leaders, the school’s

vision is to provide a protective and nurturing environment to the children

with special needs, allowing them to become part of their wider age-

groups and of Israeli society.

Benjamin Rothman Kadoorie is designed to serve as a center of

excellence in special education and a model for future schools in Israel

and around the world. In just two years, the school’s team, together

with the Alumot Or foundation, funded by the late Benjamin Rothman’s

family, have developed ground-breaking methods and a holistic

concept encompassing all the needs of these special children and their

families, together with a long-term strategy for their development in

to independent adults. It is a unique school which both addresses the

specific requirements of its students while seeing them as an integral

part of their communities and Israeli society.

Benjamin Rothman

Kadoorie School was

founded in 2014, both as an

educational framework for

the region’s children on the

autism spectrum as well as

an environment preparing

them for adult life within

their communities.