Opening Doors for Every Family: A New Era of Inclusion in Jewish Preschools
For years, Jewish early childhood educators across Atlanta have shared the same worry: they want to welcome every child, yet too often they lack the training, bandwidth, or confidence to fully support children with disabilities. Families who long to stay rooted in the Jewish community sometimes find themselves searching elsewhere for programs that can meet their child’s needs. JAccess has been aware of these concerns and working to drive change by bringing together partners who could help our Jewish preschools become places where every child belongs.
To better understand the impact of this work, the JAccess Team interviewed Sally Fuhrmeister and Tracy Thompson of Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta’s (CHOA) Marcus Autism Center, who have led the hands-on coaching and training in our local preschools. Sally and Tracy’s reflections offer a window into how this initiative is reshaping teaching, confidence, and inclusion across the community.
This partnership emerged from listening to families and educators and connecting their needs with the clinical expertise of CHOA’s Marcus Autism Center. By investing in educators now, the initiative helps shape a generation of Jewish children who grow up experiencing belonging, empathy, and connection. As Sally emphasized, inclusion helps a child “feel included and really gets them to have a part of their religious identity.”
As Sally shared, “Our partnership with JAccess at Marcus Autism Center has been incredible… the focus of our work together has been really empowering preschool teachers to better include children with autism in their classrooms.”
Educators enter the program eager but uncertain, and they leave with tools, clarity, and renewed confidence. Tracy noted that teachers often have instincts but lack support: “It feels very validating for teachers to have somebody else to talk to… and that really gives them that extra boost in confidence.”
Much of the coaching centers on practical, compassionate skills—reading a child’s cues, easing transitions, and making small but meaningful adjustments to the classroom environment. Sally recalled a moment that shifted one teacher’s entire understanding of a student: “She never realized the reason this child walks around carrying cars was maybe because he didn’t know how to play with them… that shift to maybe they just don’t know how is huge.”
For another teacher, rediscovering a transition tool she had once used brought new ease and energy to her two-year-old classroom. Tracy remembered her excitement: “She said, I love it. I am using it again. It’s working.”
These moments matter because inclusion is not theoretical. It is lived in circle time, on the playground, during diaper changes, and at pick up. And it benefits every child. As Tracy explained, the strategies “are fantastic for autism, but they really serve everybody… we take a much broader lens and say, ‘how is this visual supporting the early literacy skills of everybody in your classroom?’”
For donors, this collaboration demonstrates that their support is stewarded with care and purpose. It takes a deeply felt community need and transforms it into lasting impact for children, families, and the future of Jewish Atlanta—ensuring that every child has a place, and every family has a home, in our community.