Live It, Learn It: The Academic Club Methodology for Students with Learning Disabilities and ADHD

Improve school success for students who have learning disabilities and ADHD with "Academic Clubs" the proven learning-by-doing approach presented in this energizing guidebook. Sally Smith — the highly respected founder of the Lab Schools, where 95% of students with learning problems go on to college — shows elementary school educators how to immerse students in any subject using drama, painting, sculpture, music, and other art forms. To help educators use this fun, multisensory teaching technique to motivate students, this handbook gives them

• an easy-to-follow 15-step process for establishing an Academic Club with minimal expense
• information on how the clubs promote positive behavior and foster cooperation among students
• detailed profiles of Academic Clubs, complete with suggested activities, decorations, character roles, and costume ideas
• insightful interviews with teachers who have used the Academic Club Approach
• chapters on using the approach in different settings, including junior high, high school, and summer programs
• principles for effective group management

Sally Smith's infectious energy, humor, and creativity helps teachers transform their classrooms into clubs where each student belongs and learns.

Sally L. Smith is the Founder/Director of The Lab School of Washington, a school she founded and designed in 1967 for intelligent children and adults with learning disabilities. Since 1976, she has been a professor in the School of Education at American University in charge of the Master's Degree Program in Special Education: Learning Disabilities. Professor Smith is a national leader in the field of learning disabilities. In May 1999, she was recognized by Birmingham-Southern College as a Woman of Distinction. In October 1997, she was the first recipient of the Celebration Abilities Award for Outstanding Contributions to the Field of Learning Disabilities presented by the Learning Disabilities Association of Georgia. In May 1995, Professor Smith was honored with the 1995 American University Faculty Award for Outstanding Scholarship, Research, and Other Professional Contributions. In February 1993, she received the LDA Award from the Learning Disabilities Association of America, the highest honor given in her field, in recognition and appreciation of outstanding leadership in the field of learning disabilities. She is one of the elected specialists on the Professional Advisory Board of the Learning Disabilities Association of America and was an elected member of the Professional Advisory Board of the National Center of Learning Disabilities of America and was an elected member of the Professional Advisory Board of the National Center of Learning Disabilities for 6 years. The 1985 Encyclopedia Britannica Medical and Health Annualincluded a section on learning disabilities authored by Sally Smith. Since 1988, she has been a consultant on learning disabilities to the State Department Family Liaison Office and since 1990, a member of the Advisory Board of the I Have a Dream Foundation in Washington, DC. Professor Smith served on the U.S. Task Force on the Definition of Developmental Disabilities in 1976/1977 and has been a consultant to numerous organizations and state bodies. She has testified as an expert witness before the Senate Committee on Labor and Human Resources. She was a member of the Advisory Council on the Arts in Education for the National Endowment for the Arts. She has run workshops all over the United States and Canada as well as in Greece and Switzerland for the European Council of International Schools. It is Professor Smith's belief that everyone can learn, and she has designed teaching approaches involving all of the art forms and experiential education to teach academic skills to children and adults. In 1966, she originated the Academic Club Method, which has been overwhelmingly successful with Lab School students. As the author of eight books and a number of articles in professional magazines, Professor Smith has mastered the art of translating difficult clinical issues into popular language. Her best known books are No Easy Answers: The Learning Disabled Child at Home and at School (Bantam, 1995) and Succeeding Against the Odds: How the Learning-Disabled Can Realize Their Promise (Tarcher/Perigee, 1993). Succeeding Against the Odds was the recipient of the New York Orton Dyslexia Society's 1995 Margot Marek Book Award. Sin respuestas simples: Reconozca al nino con problemas de aprendizaje (Editorial Plaza Mayor, Inc.), the Spanish translation of No Easy Answers, published in the fall of 1999. Different is Not Bad, Different is the World: A Book About Disabilities (Sopris West, 1994), a book for young children, is being used widely in inclusive classrooms. In 1996, both No Easy Answers and Different is Not Bad, Different is the World were selected to receive the prestigious 1996 Parents' Choice Award. The National Public Broadcasting Corporation will be producing a series of short documentaries in early 2001 demonstrating Professor Smith's original teacher education in-service techniques and its application in The Lab School setting. The documentaries will emphasize the use of the arts, Academic Club Approach, experiential, hands-on, object-centered learning that works most effectively with Lab School students and helps build a commitment to inquiry.