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.