Baker Research Center: Enhancement, Research and Inclusion of Children with Intellectual Disability in the Society  

Exceptional children and their families are given special treatment at Bar-Ilan's Edward I. and Fannie Baker Center for the Study of Development Disorders in Infants and Young Children. At the Center, children with developmental disabilities, such as autisim, Down's syndrome, or communication problems, are taught how to enhance their ability to learn. This is achieved through unique programs involving projects in reading, mathematics, computers and music, that were designed by the Center's director, Prof. Pnina S. Klein.

Three centers for Baker Center activity

Focus on infants and toddlers of developmental age. In this focus, parents are given guidance on how to: 3-0 Improve the quality of interaction, 'serve' their children a rich mental menu to promote them. Parental guidance is provided through videotaped analysis, in which they interact with their children

Focus for children aged 10-3: The children come to the center once a week and participate in a variety of activities to develop literacy and reading abilities, mathematical thinking strategies and language and emotional regulation through music. The learning process in children with intellectual disabilities is longer, so we start it before the age of 3. This is how children reach first grade with a good reading base.

Integrative focus: This focus is an innovative project that brings together children with normal development and children with intellectual disabilities to joint activities, which combine technology and literature. The venture is called "Trony Story" (ebook). "In this applied research project, we have processed and adapted well-known stories for the population we work with and turned them into an e-book.