Countering Learning Disabilities

Preliminary statement of program intention

Many of the technologies and pedagogical approaches that define Einstein can be put to work in and beyond the classroom for lowering learning barriers that are presently holding back the performance and well-being of many children and adults with learning disabilities in almost all of our societies. Research shows that as many as twenty percent of all children are being penalized in their educational and personal development as a result of such impairments as dyslexia, auditory problems, attention deficit disorders, etc.

These children almost always get left behind by the educational delivery system, leaving many of them marginalized in various ways for life. The latest research reveals, however, that these deficiencies may in many cases have some powerful compensating qualities. (Albert Einstein, for example, was dyslectic.) An article in the Scientific American of November 1996 put it this way: "Dyslexia [is] an encapsulated deficit often surrounded by significant strengths in reasoning, problem solving, concept formation, critical thinking and vocabulary". Understanding of these issues has advanced rapidly in recent years, together with the realization that a somewhat different learning environment is called for if these compensating strengths are to be validated, so that the child and adult can participate more fully in the community at large, as well as have a happier and fuller life.

The Global Lab Curriculum, to take but one Einstein program, provides an excellent opportunity to offer those with these impairments an alternative learning environment that can accommodate in a number of ways their specific handicaps, while at the same time provide them with an opportunity to develop those other strengths that otherwise all too often are simply not fed and reinforced.

Einstein is undertaking to build awareness in each school of these issues and opportunities, while at the same time using the international linkages to provide specific on-the-ground help for those with learning disabilities. The preparatory Technology & Human Resource Audit attempts to provide an initial awareness of the extent and specifics of these problems in the cooperating institution. Special efforts are made to welcome these more unusual people into the Einstein learning environment.

Einstein is taking contact with leading groups and institutions around the world with strong practices in these areas, in an attempt to identify and access the best of what they have to offer. These groups are being invited to join in as partners, in an attempt to ensure that world level insights and approaches are available to the cooperating schools and institutions. Likewise, in each case contact is made with leading local centers of related expertise on learning disorders in an attempt to ensure widest impact on the community as a whole.

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