Ballet For All Kids at Mount Sinai
Ballet For All Kids is proud to be part of groundbreaking research at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City.
A team of dedicated medical students, united by a shared passion for dance and a commitment to serving individuals with developmental disabilities, partnered with BFAK to launch ADAPT (Approach to Dance for Autism Through Personalized Teaching). The program is built entirely on the Schlachte Method and the BFAK curriculum, bringing over 15 years of inclusive ballet expertise to children with autism spectrum disorder in New York City. Through weekly ballet classes rooted in the BFAK approach, the program supports motor development, social connection, and self regulation.
The ADAPT program is one of many examples of how inclusive ballet classes for kids can create meaningful and lasting change, not just in the studio but in every area of a child's life.
A Dance Class Like No Other
Mount Sinai Health spotlights the ADAPT program and the medical students bringing inclusive ballet to children with autism spectrum disorder.
The Team Behind ADAPT
Noy Alon
Fourth-Year Medical Student, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
Noy is a lifelong ballet dancer who trained for fourteen years at the Boston Ballet School. She also has a passion for working with children and adults with developmental disabilities and led a tutoring program for this population during her undergraduate education at Brown University.
While at Brown, she met founder Bonnie Schlachte through a professor and collaborated on a qualitative study interviewing parents of long-time Ballet For All Kids dancers about retention factors of inclusive ballet classes for kids with autism spectrum disorder.
When she was accepted to medical school, Noy knew she wanted to continue her work with BFAK. She became one of the leaders of the randomized clinical trial assessing the impact of the Schlachte Method on the motor and behavioral development of children with autism spectrum disorder. Since then, she has taught numerous classes and helped train new teachers and volunteers in the Schlachte Method and Ballet For All Kids. Noy is applying to Psychiatry in the upcoming cycle with the ultimate goal of becoming a child and adolescent psychiatrist specializing in children with developmental disabilities.
Michelle Adler
Fifth-Year MD/PhD Student, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
Michelle grew up dancing in the Bay Area alongside her older sister with Down syndrome, beginning ballet at her local recreation center. A lifelong dancer, she has performed in annual productions of The Nutcracker, competed on her high school dance team, led a student-choreographed dance company in university, and continues to lead weekly dance workshops for medical and graduate students at Mount Sinai.
Her passion for working with individuals with developmental disabilities is deeply personal and shapes both her research and clinical goals. As a PhD student, Michelle currently studies the immune system in individuals with Down syndrome and hopes to become a physician-scientist specializing in research and clinical care for the Down syndrome population.
At Mount Sinai, Michelle sought to bridge her interests in medicine and dance and was fortunate to connect with medical students who shared this goal. Through this collaboration, she has helped lead a clinical trial assessing the impact of the BFAK curriculum for children with autism. Michelle believes that ballet is a wonderful and meaningful discipline to learn, and she hopes this work will help expand access to Ballet For All Kids so more children can experience the joy, structure, creativity, and community that dance can offer.
Camila Vicioso
Rising Fourth-Year Medical Student, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
Camila brings a rare combination of elite ballet training and a deep personal commitment to disability inclusion to her work with BFAK. She trained at the School of American Ballet from the age of eight and performed in numerous productions with New York City Ballet throughout her childhood and danced professionally with Connecticut Ballet prior to studying Psychology and Biology at Columbia University, where she conducted research on how early life experiences shape neurobehavioral development.
Having maternal grandparents who have been deaf since toddlerhood, disability access and inclusion have long been important to Camila. During medical school she developed a passion for pediatric orthopedic surgery and during the 2026-27 academic year she is completing a Leon Root Research Fellowship in Pediatric Orthopedics at the Hospital for Special Surgery, deepening her understanding of pediatric musculoskeletal conditions and strategies to improve outcomes for children with orthopedic and developmental disabilities.
Camila co-founded the ADAPT program at Mount Sinai alongside Noy and Michelle in 2024 and serves as a co-leader of the randomized controlled trial evaluating the effects of adaptive ballet using the BFAK curriculum on motor coordination, social communication, and caregiver outcomes in children with autism spectrum disorder. She believes every child deserves the opportunity to experience the joy, confidence, creativity, and sense of belonging that inclusive ballet can provide.
Eliana Elikan Freilich
Third-Year Medical Student, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
Eliana has a longstanding commitment to serving individuals with developmental and other disabilities. At Barnard College, she co-founded a tutoring program for children of essential workers during the COVID-19 pandemic, including those with special needs. She developed and led a Zumba program for girls with special needs abroad and worked as a job coach and support counselor at a month-long residential sleepaway camp for individuals with developmental disabilities.
At Mount Sinai, Eliana joined the Ballet For All Kids randomized controlled trial, first as a volunteer and now as part of the leadership team. She has completed training under Bonnie Schlachte and attended classes at Ballet Academy East in order to teach participants. Eliana aspires to become a child and adolescent psychiatrist, with a particular interest in integrating primary care and psychiatric services to build more accessible, comprehensive models of care for children, adolescents, and individuals with developmental disabilities.
