Matan: The Gift of Jewish Learning for Every Child was created in 2000 to address the lack of Jewish educational opportunities afforded to children with special needs. As approximately 15 percent of the U.S. population has special needs, Matan estimates that about 150,000 Jewish children are in need of special services. Matan works with synagogues and Jewish Community Centers to develop programs that provide special education classes and a variety of support for children with learning issues, speech and language delays, autism spectrum disorders, ADD/ADHD and much more. The program assesses the needs of communities and institutions and then collaborates to establish high quality special education services. Matan understands that children learn differently and some need additional resources for success. It realizes that Jewish education may present additional challenges to children with special needs and offers solutions to these challenges. Among the many support systems offered by Matan are the following services: facilitation of self-contained Hebrew school classes at local JCCs; support for mainstream and self-contained special education opportunities within synagogue religious schools; consultations with day schools, synagogues, community centers and other organizations to help them better serve special needs students; conducting of teacher in-service workshops; and sponsorship of Jewish Holiday programming for families with children who have special needs. Call to learn about various Manhattan locations.