A r c h i v e d  I n f o r m a t i o n

Audience Children and young adults (10-18) with average to superior intelligence with severe learning disabilities.

Description LSW is the only program in the U.S. that uses integrated arts and academic clubs to teach learning disabled students content area curricula and basic skills in a regular classroom setting. A multisensory and experiential approach form the program's foundation. Through diagnostic-prescriptive methods, the teaching staff seeks ways by which each student learns, discovers each student's strengths and interests, and experiments until effective techniques are found to help the student learn. The LSW program operates on a 182-day school year, 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. The program is complemented by an after school program from 3:30 to 6:30 p.m., a career and college counseling program, a tutoring program, and a range of diagnostic and related services program. The LSW class range is from 11:1 student-teacher ratio in the elementary and intermediate programs to a 5:1 ratio in the secondary programs. Students are immersed in the arts and academic clubs. The arts areas deal with symbols, patterns, and problem solving. In an academic club, higher order skills and sophisticated, content-based subject matter are taught through a dramatic framework, visual, and concrete materials. Each club for the elementary and intermediate age levels provides total immersion in a topic and follows a developmental sequence based on child development and the development of human history. Students progress from the Cave Club (first grade) to the Industrialists Club (sixth grade). The club approach is utilized in different ways in the secondary program (i.e., Humanities, Restaurant Programs and the School Store). LSW addresses National Educational Goal 3.

Evidence of Effectiveness Two claims of effectiveness were evaluated and were complemented by LSW staff profiles of students and alumni to illustrate the individual impact of the program's approach. Results showed that LSW students demonstrated significant gains in key academic skills, specifically reading comprehension and mathematics reasoning, as measured by standardized norm-referenced achievement tests, and they showed greater academic and personal success than similar learning disabled students nationally.

Requirements A team configuration composed of an administrator, content area teacher, special education teacher, art teacher, and related services personnel. One calendar year for a leader of a team of professionals from a potential adopting school or district who will be enrolled and complete the Master's program in Special Education: Learning Disabilities at The American University. Other team members will need to spend one summer at the LSW campus in intensive training.

Costs Release time for professionals to attend the training program. Tuition, travel, living expenses. In-service time for participants and other staff on location. Program materials will vary depending on the location of the adopting site. The program materials include audio, video, and a computer software program developed by students.

Services Ongoing staff in-service training; graduate training in conjunction with The American University; and LSW workshops.

Contact

Sally L. Smith, Founder and Director, LSW; Professor, The American University, 4759 Reservoir Rd., NW, Washington, D.C. 20007. (202) 965-6600, FAX (202) 965-5105.

Developmental Funding: National Endowment for the Arts and private funding.
PEP No. 93-9R2 (5/1/94)

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[INSITE Model]

[Mainstream Amplification Resource Room Study (MARRS)]