The story that sparked each
child’s personal path.
Our Mission
Eis Laasois is a call to take early action on behalf of those infants and young children whose difficult beginnings or atypical development indicate the necessity for intervention in order to prevent or minimize developmental issues. We do not allow a child’s prognosis to limit a child’s potential, but rather, we create relationships that can enable developmental processes to redefine each child’s potential. We have brought together the highest standard of clinical skills and expertise to address the unique developmental challenges presented by our children. Our goal is to enable and partner with families to realize their children’s greatest potential.
Our History
It’s not only the destination. It’s the journey.
It all Started in 1981
It all started in 1981, when our founder, Mr. David Lichtman, welcomed a new baby into this world. Joel had Cerebral Palsy, and according to the grim-faced doctors, he should have been institutionalized. They said Joel would never walk, speak, or do anything much. The Lichtmans refused to accept that. The doctors’ prognosis lit a fire in their hearts, and they acted upon it. It was time to show the world that children are able.
Enter Mr. Lichtman
Mr. Lichtman opened the school he wanted for Joel: Eis Laasois. Eis Laasois means “a time to do". When Mr. Lichtman chose it as a name for his new school, he saw it as a personal call to action on behalf of all children with disabilities. And their passion proved true. Today, Joel is not only a highly productive member of society, he is also the proud father of three beautiful children. For more than a quarter of a century, Eis Laasois has helped children with various diagnoses prove prognoses wrong.
A Growing Reputation Requires an Expanded Location
Mr. Lichtman ran the very first Eis Laasois class in his own home yet the operation was soon transferred to a homey location on Harrison Ave. While the location suited the needs of the fledgling school, it soon started to become tight. Eis Laasois identified a brand new construction with a ground level space that seemed to be custom made for our growing program. Eis Laasois can now accommodate more students, provide more therapy and accomplish more!
Early Intervention Branches Out
Soon the Eis Laasois reputation grew and parents of children with less significant challenges began reaching out to inquire about our services. Eis Laasois understood the importance of Early Intervention as a key to preventing later struggles and once again took action. A large office with many evaluators, service coordinators and support staff was established so that every struggling child in our community; regardless of the severity, can get the Early intervention services they need.
Early Intervention Branches Further Out
When a leading Early Intervention organization based in Borough Park was about to close it doors; Eis Laasois knew what they needed to do. The closing organization approached the leaders of Eis Laasois and asked them to assume their clients and staff thereby ensuring continuity of services. Eis Laasois promptly opened an early intervention office in Borough Park thereby expanding its phenomenal reputation. Now the Borough Park and Flatbush communities can benefit from high quality evaluations, service coordination and therapy for children from Birth- 3 years.
Why Should Such Little Ones Travel?
By 2020, about fifty percent of our student body were commuting to school from their homes in Borough Park or Flatbush. As traffic in the Brooklyn area increased, the average travel time per student often amounted to more than three hours per day! A quite significant amount of time for a three-year-old! The Eis Laasois Board of Directors convened on this issue and concluded that we were able to build a beautiful program once and we can do it again. By September of 2021, Eis Laasois boasted a state-of-the-art Borough Park location fully set up with nine classrooms, therapy rooms, a kitchen and everything else the school needed to function.
Eis Laasois Expands for Children in Need
In 2021 five students with multiple disabilities were to graduate Eis Laasois in June. With the support of Eis Laasois, the parents of these children with significant needs set out to find a new school for their child to attend. Their search was futile. Some programs would not accept students with such significant medical and management needs. Other schools simply didn’t have proper accommodations. The only programs that were open to accept our graduates seemed incompetent and parents’ were very reluctant to send their child to a program that will simply keep their children happy. Eis Laasois jumped in! In September of 2021 Eis Laasois opens school for children above age five with multiple disabilities.
Eis Laasois Going Strong
There is nothing that can stop Eis Laasois from advocating for children, helping them progress, and teaching them that where there’s a will, there is always a way. Eis Laasois continues to provide unmatched services for Yiddish-speaking children with special needs in the Williamsburg, Borough Park, Flatbush and Crown Heights communities. With a gleaming reputation of 40 years experience, Parents know they can count on Eis Laasois to bring out the most in their child.
5
State-of-the-
Art Sites
40
Years of Helping
Children
567
Staff Members
11894
Children Helped
Our Founder
Mr. David Lichtman,
LMSW, SAS
In 1966, at 20 yrs. old, Mr. David Lichtman was featured in the Los Angeles Herald Examiner, in the thick of things with preschoolers attempting to float the boat they made in a mud puddle at the Center for Early Education, a psychoanalytic nursery school. He went on to complete his BA with Honors in psychology and early education, and then graduate school at Columbia’s Teacher’s College and Bank Street College of Education. Raising a family in the Chasidic community of Williamsburg, Brooklyn, David and his wife gave birth to their second child, Yoely, after 25 weeks gestation. At 18 months of age, Yoely was diagnosed with cerebral palsy. David researched the subject and became immersed in Yoely’s therapy at NY Cornell Hospital. When informed that children born with developmental disabilities from the Williamsburg community were not participating in New York
State’s Early Childhood Developmental Programs, he, with his wife and financial support from the Chasidic community, founded Eis Laasois Williamsburg Infant & Early Childhood Development Center. Francine Stern, PT, from NY Cornell Hospital, recognized as the most skillful instructor in NDT (neuro-developmental-treatment, recognizing cerebral palsy as neurological and developmental, not orthopedic) came once a week to support David’s sincere effort. Other top therapists wanted to take part inthis idealistic effort. David spent his time teaching the children and joining in their therapies. When we received children on the autistic spectrum, David rejected behavioral models for controlling these children and sought out a humanizing, more interpersonal approach. Dr. Stanley Greenspan and Dr. Serena Wieder came to our support and our idealism with their Floortime approach. All our staff became trained in ‘Floortime’ and the rest of David’s time has been spent on the floor helping children relate, communicate, and think.
Educational Staff
Our educational staff is firmly committed to our child-driven, developmental, relationship-based approach informed by DIR/Floortime. Both our professional and paraprofessional teaching staff participate in ongoing clinical training on an ongoing basis.
Clinical Staff
Our clinical staff is passionate about the developmental approaches of NDT (NeuroDevelopmental Treatment) and Sensory Integration, as well as other approaches where clinically indicated.
Our Facilities
Eis Laasois is proud to extend its services across multiple locations, ensuring that every type of child, in any place, receives the care and chance for success they deserve. Our facilities are all staffed with capable, caring professionals who provide exceptional education and support to children with disabilities and their families.
Borough Park Preschool
6202 15th Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11219
Williamsburg Preschool
22 Middleton Street, Brooklyn, NY 11206
The Eis Laasois School
22 Middleton Street, Brooklyn, NY 11206
Borough Park E.I. Offices
6210 15th Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11219
Williamsburg E.I. Offices
210 Wallabout Street, Brooklyn, NY 11206
Compliance
Eis Laasois is committed to comply with all applicable federal, state, and local laws and regulations, as well as with our contractual funding sources’ respective regulations and policies.
At Eis Laasois, we are compelled to conduct all our affairs with utmost integrity, and ethical and moral standards. We hold our staff, contractors, and vendors to abide by these standards.
Eis Laasois is committed to maintaining and evaluating the effectiveness of our Compliance Policies through monitoring procedures intended to detect noncompliance by its staff, contractors, and vendors.
All Eis Laasois staff, contractors, and vendors shall acknowledge that it is their responsibility to report any instances of suspected or known noncompliance to their immediate supervisor, the Executive Director, or the Compliance Officer. Reports may be made anonymously without fear of retaliation.
To report corporate compliance concerns, staff, contractors, and vendors are encouraged to call the Eis Laasois Compliance Hotline number, at 718.303.9427. Messages can be left anonymously. All complaints/concerns will be handled with utmost confidentiality.
For more information, you can contact the Eis Laasois Compliance Officer, Miriam Fried, at 718.303.9400 ext. 412, or by emailing MFried@eislaasois.org.
Chaya Hindy Baumwolspiner M.S.Ed, SBL
Principal, Borough Park Preschool
Our educational staff is firmly committed to our child-driven, developmental, relationship-based approach informed by DIR/Floortime. Both our professional and paraprofessional teaching staff participate in ongoing clinical training on an ongoing basis.