By Yonit Hagoel Karnieli and Keren Yaniv

On Thursday, January 24^th, 2008, a court hearing was held in Jerusalem in an administrative petition of a non-speaking child vs. the Municipality of Jerusalem and the Ministry of Education. This is the case of a three year old child with Cerebral Palsy who is non-speaking, diagnosed as having no intellectual disabilities. During the year of 2006 he was placed in a rehabilitation setting, where all of his needs were addressed by the staff, including initiation of AAC, which he was quick to learn. When the time had come for the child to move on to the next rehabilitation-educational setting, it was recommended that he go to a day care center that specializes in services for children with difficulties similar to his. Instead, he was placed by the municipality's educational department in a local school as it was thought it would be for the child's best interest to learn in his own native language - Arabic. It was found that services addressing communication needs were lacking in this school. The child's parents turned to Bizchut, the Israel Human Rights Center for People with Disabilities for assistance, meanwhile keeping the child at home for five months with no therapy intervention and no means to communicate at all.

In view of the long history of close relationships between ISAAC-Israel and Bizchut, it was only natural for the two organizations to join forces to formulate the documents for an administrative petition to court on behalf of the child. ISAAC-Israel's input highlights the crucial role of early AAC intervention for a child's development and the severe outcomes which might possibly occur if this early intervention with AAC is not available in his educational setting. It was emphasized that AAC should be regarded as a way of life for people with severe communication impairments, not as a form of treatment that can be skipped in the event that the school lacks experts in AAC. Hence, it was stated that it is imperative that AAC be introduced and implemented by a well trained and experienced staff (SLP's and others) that would see to it that AAC is carried over into the child's environments at school, at home and in the community.

The legal matters in this petition were handled both by Bizchut and the Ramat Gan Law School. ISAAC-Israel's contribution was an eye opener for many people involved in the process, who had never before been exposed to the field of AAC.  In court, the attorney representing the child focused on the need to provide the child with AAC services with no further delay, without waiting for the local school to develop the appropriate services for him and for other children in his condition.  The judge ruled that the child be immediately placed in the day care center that was initially recommended for him, where there would be a continuation of his AAC acquisition and use, combined with all other necessary services for a child with CP. It was ruled that the child would stay there until it can be ensured that the other school is able to provide AAC and other related services by highly professional staff. The court did acknowledge the educational system's willingness to start building and providing the necessary services as soon as possible.

January 24^th 2008 will be remembered as a milestone in the history of AAC in Israel and also as a symbol of the joint efforts and partnership with Bizchut, the mission of which is to ensure that people with disabilities in Israel will not be denied their basic rights as members of society.