| Many strategies for dealing effectively with learning | | | | One example illustrates how sculpture can be used to |
| disabilities include multi-sensory approaches. The | | | | teach students about geometric principles, while |
| thinking behind this is simple: the more ways you give a | | | | another shows how acting can enhance students' |
| person to remember something, the more chances | | | | vocabularies. Clear, detailed instructions allow readers |
| they have of actually doing so. One approach that | | | | to put these techniques to use in their own homes or |
| works-particularly for the artistically inclined-is the use | | | | classrooms. Smith makes the important argument that |
| of creative techniques to relay and interpret academic | | | | art is not only a fun way for students to express |
| information. | | | | themselves, but also culturally and scholastically |
| These techniques may include the integration of visual | | | | enriching. |
| art (such as painting, drawing, or photography), literary | | | | 2. Overcoming Dyslexia: A New and Complete |
| art (such as poems, short stories, or plays), music, or | | | | Science-Based Program for Reading Problems at Any |
| drama. Not only are these approaches entertaining for | | | | Level, written by Sally Shaywitz |
| students, they also make use of different areas of the | | | | This critically-acclaimed book uses science to give |
| brain, which promotes valuable cross-region | | | | evidence that artistic techniques are an effective way |
| connections. | | | | to teach dyslexic students how to read. Shaywitz-a |
| There are two excellent sources on the subject, which | | | | Yale neuroscientist-looks at the structure of the |
| are profiled below. | | | | dyslexic brain and how it functions. Neurotechnology |
| 1. The Power of the Arts: Creative Strategies for | | | | has proven that those with dyslexia use a different |
| Teaching Exceptional Learners, written by Sally L. | | | | part of the brain to read than those without dyslexia. |
| Smith | | | | Art can be used as a means to create connections |
| The author of this revolutionary book is one of the | | | | between the two areas of the brain, thus enabling the |
| country's foremost experts on working with learning | | | | ability to make sense of written language. Shaywitz |
| disabled students. She's the founder and director of | | | | makes the compelling argument that dyslexia should |
| Washington D.C.'s Lab School, an institution she | | | | be looked at not just as a weakness, but also as a |
| created specifically for students with learning | | | | strength. She points to the large number of highly |
| differences. Smith is also a professor of education at | | | | successful artists who have struggled with and |
| American University and the mother of a child with | | | | benefited from their dyslexia, including Pulitzer Prize |
| scholastic difficulties. | | | | winning playwright Wendy Wasserstein and bestselling |
| All of these qualifications make her well-suited to | | | | author John Irving. |
| providing parents, teachers, and other learning disability | | | | Shaywitz provides in-depth case studies of these |
| specialists with information on the best techniques for | | | | artists to illustrate how dyslexia allows for increased |
| working with special needs students. This book | | | | creativity and comprehension, while at the same time |
| consists of interviews with faculty members of the | | | | inhibiting the ability to decode letters and punctuation |
| Lab School, who have found that incorporating art into | | | | marks. She indicates that art can help to bridge the |
| their curriculum has made their lessons come alive for | | | | gap between these two types of skills, which can lead |
| their students. | | | | to great personal and professional achievement. |