These two teens acted on their desire to help others and joined the Special Needs Assistance Program (S.N.A.P.). S.N.A.P. teaches teens to work with other teens with special needs at local synagogues and youth groups. The program strives to help synagogues and youth groups become better equipped to serve students with special needs.

This year's program took place during the month of August in Rockville, Md., and was sponsored by the Partnership for Jewish Life and Learning.

You'll Learn in a S.N.A.P.
By Cori Snyder

I love kids, and I have always had an interest in special needs and special education, as well as in dolphins. So the S.N.A.P. program was time well spent for me.

You must be confused. How does my interest in special needs relate to my interest in dolphins?

For my bat mitzvah, instead of having a huge party, I fulfilled a dream I've had since I was very young. That dream was to swim with dolphins. While I was at Dolphins Plus in the Florida Keys, I found out about a program they have called Island Dolphin Care. In this program, dolphins are trained to work with children who have special needs, such as Autism and Down's Syndrome. I thought to myself, "How perfect this would be for me–to be able to work with dolphins and special needs children at the same time!"

My interest in helping special needs children continued at S.N.A.P. The program helped me learn to communicate in a better way with children who not only have Autism and Down's Syndrome, but different kinds of disabilities such as learning disabilities and Asperger's Syndrome, which I didn't even know about. I became more aware of what children with disabilities have to deal with in school and at home, as well as how they see themselves.

This program definitely made an impact on my knowledge of how to work with these children in a better way then I could have before. Without this program, I would not know as much as I do now. I will definitely use what I have learned both with the children that I will be working with at my synagogue and as I aim toward a career in Island Dolphin Care.

Knowing People Care
By Daniella Bardack

When people with special needs want help, who can they ask? What options do they have?

I have epilepsy, which is considered a special need. This made me want to seek out other people with special needs. That is why I joined S.N.A.P.  

I was well aware that the other trainees may not have special needs, but I thought there was a possibility that they would.   It turned out that, among the other trainees, I was just about the only one with a special need.

This was not a bad thing, though, because I finally spoke about my epilepsy for the first time in public. I started by saying, "I am glad that I am talking to this group about my epilepsy, as opposed to other kids who might make fun of me for having a special need." I said this because I was feeling vulnerable, but I knew that every single person around me cared about others, that they were sensitive, and they would not judge me for having epilepsy.

I was right. Nobody judged me. The other trainees actually kept asking me more questions about my medical situation during their free time, and they commented on how talking about my epilepsy for the first time was probably hard for me (which it was), and thanked me for talking about it with them.

I will never forget when I opened up to the other members of the S.N.A.P program. I would definitely encourage people with ADHD (Attention Deficit and Hyperactive Disorder), cerebral palsy, epilepsy, learning disabilities, and other disabilities to join this program simply to tell their stories. The people at S.N.A.P are not like peers at school who might make fun of a special need, or people who do not want to hear a disabled person's story. People at S.N.AP are more accepting than you could ever imagine.

At school, there are always accommodations that need to be made for me, as if my epilepsy is hindering me in life. But when I am working with the S.N.A.P team, I am an appreciated teacher of epilepsy. It does not matter whether or not the student has a special need here–everybody is just trying to help one another.

In the end, every S.N.A.P. trainee has changed the world for the better by helping others.