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