New Speech & Occupational Therapy Hires at Hillel Day School.

Thanks to a generous grant from the Jewish Fund, Hillel Day School was able to hire its own Speech and Language Pathologist, Heather Vieder, and Occupational Therapist, Sara Wasser. While students have always received individualized support from Hillel’s Student Services team and speech through Farmington Public Schools, the additional in-house professionals allow Hillel to conduct universal screenings on every ECC4 through second-grade student, thereby identifying anyone who would benefit from this important early intervention.

In sessions with Ms. Vieder, students have started working both individually and in small groups, focusing on areas such as, phonological awareness, morphology, rhyming, and pragmatic communication. In occupational therapy with Ms. Wasser, students are working on pre-writing skills such as visual motor coordination, fine motor skills, spatial awareness, sensory skills, and self-regulation . These early interventions are crucial for setting students up for success academically and preventing early learning failure. 

Director of Student Services Kim Love shares, “Hillel is so fortunate to have this universal screening process in these areas, which is not standard practice in most schools. Our ability to provide direct intervention to any ECC-4 through 2nd grade student that we identify is in need, before a disability either develops or is identified, once again puts Hillelahead of the curve in providing student support and services that can truly improve outcomes for students.”