Page 8 - Hey-book-2011-activities-RE4-fpage_Neat_HTML5

07

Was there an attempt to deal with her learning disabilities?

- "In the younger grades there was no professional dealing with it.

Each time we raised it, they said to us that they cannot deal with it. To
our sorrow, sometimes the educational system is more limited than the

student. Until this year Noa didn't like the system very much, and that's
an understatement. Now she is in an external high school and she is

flourishing."

In Kluger's karate school, Noa is not the only one that finds in martial arts

strength and healing. "Not a few of the students got to us through
referrals of therapists and doctors, for reasons of physical and mental

health," Kluger tells. "There are people with asthma here, people with

orthopedic problems, even people ill with nerve deterioration. Karate
doesn't heal illnesses, but it does enable these people to rehabilitate their

body, to improve their quality of life and their self-confidence."

Among those training by Kluger are also deaf children and adults. Lately
Noa gave a model lesson in the "Shema" center for the deaf, and Kluger

has given in the past workshops on self-defense for deaf women. Karate
also helps in rehabilitation of problems like low self-image, ADD, and

communication problems.

"I have here children that I classify as victims of the educational system,"
Kluger says, "like those that experienced violence and terrorizing in

school, who suffer from learning disabilities and no one understands
them. After a few months of training, they flourish, go to school with a

smile, improve in studies. Children who were in psychological treatment

for years finish high school and are drafted into the army. It's understood
that this does not come in one day; this is a long and continual process.

The training in karate combines body and spirit. The routines are

physical, but that's the easy part. The more complicated aspect is to know
to make decisions and to apply this knowledge in real time, to get

proportions in problem solving. This is a laboratory for life. The
students experience successes and failures here and learn to cope with

them. According to our philosophy, also failure is a wonderful

experience, because it teaches you what not to do."

RE 4 All rights reserved to Ulpan-Or (www.ulpanor.com) Do Not Copy!
Jerusalem: 02-561-1132 Tel Aviv: 03-566-1493 New York 1-646-393-4709