Annual benefit funds Tiegerman school programs

The Tiegerman School is holding its 19th Annual Chefs for Children Food & Wine tasting on Oct. 27, at Leonard’s Palazzo in Great Neck. The location offers a middle-ground for the students in the New York City and Long Island schools to come and enjoy the festivities. The night will be filled with an abundance of top restaurants showcasing their best fare alongside wines, spirits, and microbrews.
Tiegerman is a school that many people haven’t heard of and is often referred to as the best kept secret, because if people don't need their services, they’ve probably never heard of them.
The Tiegerman School opened its doors in 1985 to support the needs of children with language disorders. Now, 37 years later, the organization has grown substantially and serves more than 500 children ages 3-21 in four school locations, one of which is in Glen Cove. In 2012, Tiegerman Community Services was established expanding the agency’s scope to assist 135 adults with developmental disabilities and autism spectrum disorders to lead them to productive and successful lives.
The school also runs the gamut from preschool to elementary, middle and high school. They also offer community services, which provides residential services, vocational services, and day rehabilitation program. Currently, they have 700 families involved with their programs from both Long Island and the five boroughs. Their community service program offers resources such as group homes with a vocational program where people can get support finding employment, and a day rehabilitation program where people can go during the day if they can’t work. The funds raised from the 19th annual event will benefit those programs directly.
When Dr. Ellen Morris Tiegerman founded the school, it was initially called the school for language and communication development, but the name changed some years ago. Dr. Jeremy T. Tiegerman, the founder’s son, now oversees the entirety of the school’s programs.

Its instructors help students develop intellectually and emotionally. For parents like Toya Davis, who also serves as the district’s parent liaison, Tiegerman helped her advocate for her son, Jonathan, and his educational needs over 30 years ago. After testing his hearing at Adelphi University, where her son was attending preschool, she found out her son’s hearing was fine. But he was language-delayed for a child that was almost three.
After the analysis, Davis met Tiegerman. From there, the school gave him educational tools that enabled him to attend Howard University.
“When I first started, Dr. Tiegerman always saw the parents as the primary teachers, so she taught us how to be teachers for our children,” Davis said.
Tiegerman also works to increase public awareness of language disorders, because children who have them are often misdiagnosed and incorrectly placed in special-education classes and programs, according to Davis. In total, the school district provides a lifecycle of services including educational, community, vocational, community habilitation, respite and residential services for individuals and families on Long Island and in the five boroughs.
For more information about Chefs for Children Food & Wine Tasting contact Shari Prinstein, director of development, at sprinstein@tiegerman.org or (516) 609-6230 or visit Tiegerman.org.