The Coalition for the Advancement of the "Law for Equal Rights for Persons With Disabilities" succeeded in including "persons with cognitive disabilities" in the definition of this new law. This law, which goes into effect January 1, 1999, will provide legal protection for disabled persons regarding employment, public transportation, and legal representation. This landmark legislation was passed on February 24, 1998, by the Knesset.

 However, only a part of the law was actually passed. Education, access, health, housing and other details have yet to be voted on. Today, the education section is being discussed, and we are in contact with MK Chanan Porat, Chairman of the Knesset Law Committee.

 At present, there is no law specifically providing for equal opportunities for children and adults with LD. This must be changed and Hillel is working to make this change.
 

Today, regulations from the Director General of the Ministry of Education is, in effect, the only "law." The latest regulations from 1998 are included here:

A) Pupils with Learning Disabilities
In recent years there has been a growing awareness of the difficulties encountered by pupils with learning disabilities and an increased understanding of the fact that these difficulties may hinder the chances for them to fulfill their potential.
 

Ways must therefore be found to further the accomplishments of pupils with learning disabilities (in contradistinction to those who have difficulty with or lack of motivation). While attempting to increase the pupils' ability to face difficulties effectively one must be aware of the fact that in many cases effective treatment does not necessarily mean "healing the disability", but rather forming a strategy for efficient confrontation with modes of learning in daily life.
 

It is worth stressing that modern approaches to the treatment of pupils with learning disabilities may also contribute to greater excellence and success among many other pupils in heterogeneous classes. Emphasis is laid on acquiring effective ways of learning, while taking into consideration the difficulties facing the pupil, by using approaches suited to each one individually (according to the report of the committee headed by Prof. Malka Margalit).
 

The school must be responsible for recognizing and diagnosing those pupils who have learning disabilities as early as possible, while being careful not to "label" them, and must prepare to relate to their varying needs accordingly.
 

1. A pupil who has been identified as having learning disabilities in the Elementary School will be recognized accordingly in High School.
2. A pupil who has not been detected as having learning disabilities in the Elementary School, but for whom there is a definite discrepancy between his accomplishments and those expected of children in his age group, will be sent for testing in Junior High School, or at the latest in the 10th grade.

 

The tests will be given by an expert educational psychologist (as defined in the Psychologist Law of 1977 and the detailed addenda of 1980). They will be relevant for providing ways for the pupil to take exams through High-School Matriculation (including internal and external examinations).
 

For those pupils who have been identified as having learning disabilities the Pedagogical Administration can approve the following special ways for them to be examined:
 

• Extending the time alloted for a written exam up to a maximum of 25%
• Disregarding spelling mistakes
• Having the test questions read aloud by a neutral reader, and, in the case of English, using a recording of the questions set.
• Recording the examinee's answers.
• Providing the test questions in large print.
• Writing the pupils answers for him.
• Allowing the use of a fuller page of formulas for pupils with specific learning problems.
• Permitting an oral examination only with the detailed, written consent of the examiner (aside from the Hebrew essay exam, lab work, and some of the technological and scientific subjects).
• Permitting a school examination based on the usual curriculum examination, but omitting or changing those subjects in which the pupils with disabilities can not be tested in accordance with the examiners recommendation.
• Those pupils who have been diagnosed dyslexic may be tested at a 3-unit level in any science subject instead of taking the mathematics examination, in accordance with the Matriculation eligibility rules.


3. Those pupils who have not been spotted until the 11th grade, and concerning whom there is a suspicion of learning disability, will be sent by the school directly to the diagnostic centers to be set up by the Ministry, and whose addresses will soon be published.
• These diagnostic centers will have senior psychologists who are experts in this field, and who work within the school system and who know its procedures. Their recommendations will be in accordance with the Ministry's diagnostic criteria and policy.
• The cost of the diagnoses will be fixed according to the prices of the Civil Service Commission, and will be subsidized by the Ministry within the framework of a budget which will be allocated for this purpose.
• The diagnostic reports will be forwarded to a committee for exceptional cases in the Division of Examinations for a decision on the ways for these pupils to be examined in accordance with their diagnoses.
• A time-table and procedures for dealing with pupils in the 11th and 12th grades will be published by the Division of Examinations each year.

 

1. Those pupils with particular difficulties whom the Pedagogical Administration has become convinced need special ways of being examined, or pupils concerning whom there is an evaluation in writing by an expert teacher, may be permitted the following aids in being examined.
• Extending the time allocated for a written exam up to a maximum of 25%.
• Providing the test questions in large print.
• Disregarding spelling mistakes.

 

2. Those pupils for whom a written opinion has been given by a neurologist or a therapist concerning their ability to be tested in writing, due to motor disabilities and letter-forming--e.g., illegible handwriting, difficulties with the size and placing of the letters and the tempo of writing--will be able to have a reproduction made of the exam, in other words, exact copying without corrections or additions, by a person authorized to do so by the School Headmaster. This person should not be the examinee's own teacher, or another pupil.


 
 

For each pupil, a list of special adaptations which has been decided upon for each subject will be submitted.
 

The Ministry will accept the lists of pupils only up to the date set for receiving the Pedagogical Administration's decisions and only if they have the necessary signatures.
 

The Pedagogical Administration's decision, with relevant annotations, will be recorded in the protocol and only then given to the pupil and his parents. The decision will refer to each request, and will be accompanied by full explanations. At the same time, a file will be opened at the school including the request, the diagnostic report and the decisions concerning each pupil. This file will be available to the pupil (or his guardian), to the General Supervisor of the school, the Department of Examinations and to any other body appointed by the Ministry of Education as a control. Confidentiality of these papers must be observed, in accordance with the Law of Confidentiality.

For additional details, please contact Mr. Moshe Dakalo, Department of Examinations, Tel. 02-5602570.