Sonia Machanick
{{short description|South African physician}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Infobox person
| image = Dr Sonia Machanick.jpg
| name = Sonia Machanick
| birth_date = {{birth date|1925|6|15|df=y}}
| birth_place = Cape Town, South Africa
| death_date = {{death date and age|1977|11|12|1925|6|15|df=y}}
| death_place = Johannesburg, South Africa
| citizenship = South African
| spouse = Hillel Abbe Shapiro
| children = 4; [http://limmudbaltics.eu/wcs-instructor/janice-shapiro/ Janice Shapiro], Paul Shapiro, Ian Shapiro and Roy Courtnall Summerfield
| mother = Edna Annie Love Machanick (nee Courtnall)
| father = Soloman Machanick
}}
Sonia Machanick (15 June 1925 – 12 November 1977) was a South African medical doctor, author and educational psychologist who pioneered new methods of teaching children with dyslexia and other learning difficulties. She founded Japari School,{{Cite news|url=https://rosebankkillarneygazette.co.za/139819/japari-celebrates-48-years/|title=Japari celebrates 48 years {{!}} Rosebank Killarney Gazette|date=2014-07-02|work=Rosebank Killarney Gazette|access-date=2018-09-01}} a special school in Johannesburg that provides education for children who struggle to thrive in the mainstream education system. She wrote a series of four graded reading books (Sounds Travel Too) and other reading tutors in English and Afrikaans (Tom Kan Lees){{Cite book|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/814147342|title=Tom lees. Boek 1 Boek 1|last1=Machanick|first1=Sonia|last2=Waddingham|first2=Susan|date=1975|publisher=Meditor|isbn=978-0909077037|location=Johannesburg|oclc=814147342}} that were widely used throughout the 1960s and 1970s{{Cite journal|last=Feldman|first=Max|date=8 April 1978|title=Sonia Machanick|url=http://archive.samj.org.za/1978%20VOL%20LIII%20Jan-Jun/Articles/04%20April/2.21%20IN%20MEMORIAM.pdf|journal=South African Medical Journal|volume=53|pages=564}} for teaching the phonics reading method, as well as articles concerning the treatment of children with learning difficulties.{{Cite journal|last=Machanick|first=Sonia|date=1973-01-01|title=The Management of a Child with a Learning Disability|url=https://www.ajol.info/index.php/samj/article/view/166916|journal=South African Medical Journal|volume=47|issue=4|pages=753–6|pmid=4824141|issn=0256-9574}}
Early life and education
Machanick was the second of three children born in Cape Town to immigrant parents; her mother from the United Kingdom and her father from Lithuania. Her mother, Edna Annie Love Courtnall, was one of the first female LLB graduates (1922){{Cite web|url=https://www.senatehouselibrary.ac.uk|title=University of London Students 1836-1938|last=London University|date=1836|website=Senate House Library|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120303113015/http://archives.ulrls.lon.ac.uk/resources/graduates2.pdf|archive-date=March 3, 2012|access-date=September 5, 2018}} at the University of London, and she later set up a National Fellowship Award through the South African Association of Women graduates. Awards every year are made to two South African women who are studying for a Diploma or Degree in any discipline.{{Cite web|url=http://www.saawg.org/Bursaries.html|title=National Fellowship Awards|last=Machanick|first=Edna|website=South African Association of Women Graduates}}
After completing school, Sonia Machanick enrolled in the medical course at Cape Town University. While a student, she initiated a vacation scheme for medical students to provide medical support at a mission hospital in the Transkei and she was a member of the team that inaugurated SHAWCO, a student-run NGO based at the University of Cape Town, that seeks to improve the quality of life for individuals in developing communities within the Cape Metropolitan area.
After graduating in 1947, she returned to the main university campus to study psychology and she worked at the University Child Guidance Clinic.
She married Hillel Abbe Shapiro who was a lecturer at the university medical school.
Career
Soon after, they relocated to Johannesburg where she was initially employed at the Alexandra Township TB clinic and then as a registrar at Tara Hospital.
These experiences informed her decision to forge a career in the area of remedial education, with the specific aim of developing facilities for the diagnosis and treatment of children whose emotional and educational needs were not catered for in the mainstream educational system and she started working with children who struggled with a range of learning problems, including emotional behavioural issues, dyslexia and dyspraxia.
Together with her husband and a group of other parents, Sonia Machanick was instrumental in founding South Africa's first mainstream multi-racial high school, Woodmead School.{{Cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/194949.stm|title=BBC News {{!}} Education {{!}} The new struggle|website=news.bbc.co.uk|access-date=2018-09-14}}
JAPARI School
As her practice grew, the need for larger premises led to her setting up Japari School in Johannesburg in 1966.
The school expanded further with new buildings and was able to take larger numbers of children as well as hosting conferences and work placements for special needs teachers. Although this was during the Apartheid era, Japari operated from the start on a non-racial basis, and also supported black pupils with scholarships to mainstream schools.
After her early death aged 52 in 1977, there was a period of uncertainty, after which the school re-established itself on a new site. Dr Machanick's work in the field of educational research was recognised by the College of Medicine of South Africa, and the College established the Sonia Machanick Travelling Fellowship.Prof. I. Gordon. [http://journals.co.za/docserver/fulltext/m_samj/66/25/11338.pdf "In Memorium, Hillel Abbe Shapiro"], South African Medical Journal, 66, December 22/29 1984. {{verify source |date=September 2019 |reason=This ref was deleted Special:Diff/857531113 by a bug in VisualEditor and later restored by a bot from the original cite located at Special:Permalink/843061934 cite #2 - verify the cite is accurate and delete this template. User:GreenC bot/Job 18}} The Sonia Machanick Memorial Lecture was set up after her death.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Z7nkrSulZigC&q=sonia+machanick+memorial+lecture&pg=PA116|title=Advances in Research & Services for Children with Special Needs|last=Schwartz|first=Geraldine J.|date=1983|publisher=UBC Press|isbn=9780774801645}} From January 2002 the headteacher has been Steve Rees.{{Cite news|url=http://japari.co.za/about/history/|title=History – Japari School|work=Japari School|access-date=2018-09-14|language=en-US|archive-date=2018-09-12|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180912092105/http://japari.co.za/about/history/|url-status=dead}}
Selected works
- Sounds Travel Too. Book 1{{Cite book|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/810853240|title=Sounds travel too. Book 1 Book 1|last1=Machanick|first1=Sonia|last2=Sassoon|first2=Anne|date=1976|publisher=Heinemann Educational|isbn=978-0435014605|location=London|oclc=810853240}}
- Sounds Travel Too. Book 2{{Cite book|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/810853244|title=Sounds travel too. Book 2 Book 2|last1=Machanick|first1=Sonia|last2=Sassoon|first2=Anne|date=1976|publisher=Heinemann Educational|isbn=978-0435014612|location=London|oclc=810853244}}
- Sounds travel Too. Book 3.{{Cite book|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/814148630|title=Sounds travel too. Book 3 Book 3|last1=Machanick|first1=Sonia|last2=Sassoon|first2=Anne|date=1969|publisher=Meditor|location=Johannesburg|oclc=814148630}}
- Sounds Travel Too. Book 4{{Cite book|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/814148643|title=Sounds travel too. Book 4 Book 4|last1=Machanick|first1=Sonia|last2=Sassoon|first2=Anne|date=1969|publisher=Meditor|location=Johannesburg|oclc=814148643}}
- The management of a child with a learning disability{{Cite journal|last=Machanick|first=S|date=1974|title=The management of a child with a learning disability|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/7211464655|journal=South African Medical Journal|volume=48|issue=17|pages=753–756|pmid=4824141|oclc=7211464655|issn=0256-9574}}
- Learning disabilities in childhood - some guidelines and cautions{{Cite journal|last=Machanick|first=S|date=1973|title=Learning disabilities in childhood - some guidelines and cautions|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/7211664421|journal=South African Medical Journal|volume=47|issue=25|pages=1123–1125|oclc=7211664421|issn=0256-9574}}
- Congresses and Meetings{{Cite journal|date=1982|title=Congresses and Meetings|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/7211459162|journal=South African Medical Journal|volume=61|issue=5|pages=172|oclc=7211459162|issn=0256-9574}}
- People and Events{{Cite journal|date=1982|title=People and Events|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/7211657348|journal=South African Medical Journal|volume=61|issue=5|pages=172|oclc=7211657348|issn=0256-9574}}
- I'll Make Me a World{{Cite book|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/56480631|title=I'll make me a world|last=Machanick|first=Sonia|date=1977|publisher=Meditor|isbn=978-0620019491|location=Johannesburg, South Africa|oclc=56480631}}
- Where Can I Go? Cape Town{{Cite book|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1017265588|title=Where can I go?: Cape Town|last=Machanick|first=Sonia|date=1976|publisher=Meditor|isbn=978-0620019477|location=Johannesburg|oclc=1017265588}}
- Waarheen kan ek gaan? Kaapstad{{Cite book|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/870000268|title=Waarheen kan ek gaan? Kaapstad|last=Machanick|first=Sonia|date=1976|publisher=Pioneer Press.|location=Johannesburg|oclc=870000268}}
- Tom Lees. Boek 1
- Tom Kan Lees. Boek 2{{Cite book|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/814147337|title=Tom kan lees. Boek 2 Boek 2|last1=Machanick|first1=Sonia|last2=Waddingham|first2=Susan|date=1975|publisher=Meditor|location=Johannesburg|oclc=814147337}}
- Johannes Arnoldus van Beukering; Maurice David Gelfand; Sonia Machanick{{Cite journal|last1=Dubovsky|first1=H|last2=Wainer|first2=B|last3=Feldman|first3=M.B|date=1978|title=Johannes Arnoldus van Beukering; Maurice David Gelfand; Sonia Machanick: in|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/5878176183|journal=South African Medical Journal|volume=53|issue=14|pages=563–564|oclc=5878176183|issn=0038-2469}}
References
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Category:20th-century South African physicians
Category:South African women physicians
Category:South African people of British descent
Category:South African people of Lithuanian descent
Category:People from Cape Town
Category:Educational psychologists
Category:South African psychologists
Category:South African women psychologists