Services for Children with Special Needs

Our goal is to help special needs children and families reach their highest potential socially, emotionally, behaviorally and intellectually. To fulfill this goal our approach is to involve and support family, friends and community resources.

JFS has been providing a continuum of services for children, adults and their families for more than 60 years. Our team of experience professionals include diagnosticians, intervention specialists, speech-language pathologists, occupational therapists, play therapists, school mental-health counselors and psychiatrists.

Our Special Needs Services include:

• Intervention Specialist Services: Early Childhood and Student Specialists
• Play Therapy
• Animal-Assisted Therapy
• Comprehensive Assessment
• Speech-Language Assessments and Therapy
• Occupational Therapy
• Social Skills Groups
• School Mental-Health Services
• Psychiatry Services

Our Special Needs Resource Team brings additional expertise if more complex developmental challenges become apparent and sometimes act as the liaison in schools for teachers, leadership and parents.

For more information about our Special Needs Resources or if you’re not sure of what kind of help your child might need, call 972.437.9950.

Special Needs Partnership

The Special Needs Partnership was founded by a group of local families to advocate more strongly on behalf of their special needs children. The partnership is a grass-roots initiative that furthers awareness and inclusion through education and support for individuals and families through community programming.

To learn more about the Special Needs Partnership, please contact 972.437.9950.

Our Partners

We work with many partners to help provide an inclusive community for families with special needs. Collaborating organizations include Aaron Family Jewish Community Center, Adat Chaverim, Center for Jewish Education, Community Homes for Adults, Inc. (CHAI), Congregation Anshai Torah, Congregation Beth Torah, Congregation Shaare Tefilla, Congregation Shearith Israel, Congregation Tiferet Israel, Temple Emanu-El, Temple Shalom, The Friendship Circle of Dallas, Akiba Academy, Ann and Nate Levine Academy, Torah Day School of Dallas, Yachad and Yavneh Academy. Major funding partners include Jewish Federation of Greater Dallas, Fruhman Foundation, Gladys Golman/Faye Dallen Education Fund of the Dallas Jewish Community Foundation, Jewish Women International and United Way of Metropolitan Dallas.

Community of Families

Every family has heard the proverb: “It takes a village to raise a child.” This is never more true than when raising a child with special needs. In fact, building this “village” is vital to the health and happiness of the entire special-needs family. To address this need, the Community of Families was created to foster social relationships, encourage an inclusive environment, and to help all families cope with the ups and downs, joys and challenges of raising a child with special needs. For more information about joining our Community of Families, please contact 972.437.9950.

Upcoming Special Needs Community Events

Add Your Event

Have a community event to add to the Special Needs calendar? Submit your event here.*

*All events must be approved by an admin