Special to WJW

On a recent Sunday afternoon, the sukkah at Beth Sholom Congregation and Talmud Torah in Potomac was bustling with activity. One group of teens huddled around a crafts table while another group kibbitzed and chopped fruit salad.

Later, everyone gathered around Matt Hodin, a junior at Wootton High School in Rockville, as he played the guitar and led a round of Jewish camp songs.

The scene might have resembled any other Jewish youth group meeting, except that it included teens with developmental challenges and marked the kick-off of a new BBYO program, Kol Echad Youth (KEY), which aims to bring together "typical" and special needs teens within a Jewish social setting.

The program (which, in Hebrew, means One Voice) has been organized by DC Council BBYO with the goal of fostering personal growth, promoting acceptance and broadening social opportunities for Jewish teens across the community.

"Welcoming all Jewish teens, including those with special needs, is a priority for us -- and always has been," says Limor Hartman, DC Council BBYO's special needs program director.

With 700 teen members and more than 1,800 teen participants, according to Hartman, the DC Council is the second largest BBYO council internationally and the only one that has a dedicated special needs chapter, Shalom BBYO. Yet with a ratio of one adult to six teens, Shalom BBYO cannot meet the needs of developmentally challenged teens who require one-on-one attention, she said.

"Now, with the KEY program, we're able to take it one step further and include teens with more intensive special needs," Hartman explained.

She noted that one of the challenges to broadening inclusion is that BBYO chapters (with the exception of Shalom BBYO) are entirely teen-led. "Therefore, our challenge is to sensitize teens so they feel comfortable reaching out to those with differences. We are trying to change the culture from within," Hartman said.

In this spirit, as part of the KEY kick-off, 19 "typical" teens, drawn from various, local BBYO chapters, took part in a one-hour training session conducted by Sara Portman Milner, a special needs consultant, who formerly directed youth and special needs programs at the Jewish Community Center of Greater Washington, Rockville.

Milner ran through a series of simulations to help the students experience what it feels like to live with special needs. Wearing gloves with the fingers tied, the teens struggled to raise forks to their mouths. Holding a mouthful of marshmallows, they labored to speak clearly. Staring at a page of unevenly spaced type, they strove to decode the words. The intent of the exercises, she explained, was to impart empathy for those who live with physical, verbal and visual perception difficulties.

Beyond that, Milner's goal was to give her teen audience the skills and tools "to widen their comfort level with peers who have learning differences."

"We are all different," she told the group, "and that's a good thing. The important thing is accepting differences and feeling OK with them."

Lily Sieradzki, a sophomore at Walter Johnson High School in Bethesda, said that having a sister with ADD had already given her a perspective on different learning styles. But, she added, the training session gave her "an even better understanding of special needs" and helped "break down stereotypes."

Melissa Zissman, a senior at the Charles E. Smith Jewish Day School in Rockville, has spent two summers working at Special Olympics camp and has also volunteered with the Special Needs Assistance Program sponsored by the Partnership for Jewish Life and Learning (PJLL).

Working with special needs kids, she said, has changed her life, making her "more patient and open-minded toward other people." In the future, Zissman hopes to apply what she has learned "to help build bridges" between people.

After the training session, Ilia Esrig, 16, a JDS sophomore, and Jake Sorrells, 14, a Rockville High School freshman, sat in the sukkah, chatting with David Reyz, 18, a student at the Katherine Thomas School in Rockville. In between fruit salad preparation, Reyz demonstrated his talent for imitating cartoon characters and talked about some of his hobbies: playing tennis, taking piano lessons and listening to Shakespeare, which he later clarified as watching the movie Romeo and Juliet.

Asked whether he was having a good time, Reyz replied: "Yes, I'm just trying to get to know everybody better."

Joe Potosky, an attorney and special needs benefits specialist from North Potomac, brought his 16-year-old son, Ben, to the KEY kick-off event. According to Potosky, the teen started off in the Shalom BBYO chapter, but the format was not quite right.

As a BBYO alumnus, the senior Potosky is delighted to see BBYO offer a new program that his son can enjoy. "To be able to bring [Ben] here with other kids is a mitzvah on so many levels," he said.

At least six more KEY events are scheduled for the current school year, with the next one coming up in mid-November. Activities will be open to all teens who wish to participate, with no requirement of BBYO membership.