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No easy answers: Teaching the learning disabled child
Thr Arts in Psychotherapy,
Vol. 7 p. 61, Ankho
International
Inc.,
1980. Printed
in the U.S.A.
BOOK REVIEW
No Easy Answers:
Teaching
the Learning
Disabled
Child
Sally L. Smith (Winthrop
Publishers,
For many years we have been great admirers of Sally Smith’s pioneering work in educating learning disabled children through the arts. Not only does her book, NO Easy Answers, share her experience with others but we are pleased to see that the quality of her teaching is matched by the quality of the book itself. Sally Smith’s credibility as an expert on learning disabilities is strengthened by the many different roles that she has played in relation to the subject-parent of a learning disabled child; founder and director of The Lab School of the Kingsbury Center in Washington, D.C.; trainer of teachers, and more recently a faculty member at American University. The book is very straightforward and practical in its orientation. Theory evolves directly from personal experience with complete grasp of the subject matter being projected clearly in each chapter. The book’s personal orientation allows the perceptual confusion of the learning disabled child and adolescent to be felt by the reader. It emphasizes the importance of teaching the leaming disabled child how to order the world. The mind of such a child is characterized as immature and unable to organize surrounding stimuli. The teaching of how to learn, how to organize oneself in relation to the materials, the space and the task presented is, therefore, more important at first than teaching content. The author is very aware of the parent, teacher or therapist’s difficult position in relation to the learning disabled child, and she offers suggestions for maintaining a supportive, helping
Cambridge,
MA 1979)
environment. Her outline of teaching strategies simplifies what is often a very complex process of diagnosing a child’s difficulties and providing an effective learning mode. The author points out that the arts relate directly to the skills needed for academic readiness, and are an integral part of her approach. She recommends that methods for presenting the arts to the learning disabled child follow those for teaching any other subject, and points out the often neglected fact that the arts can, in an integrated approach, broadly expand the possibilities for diagnosis and remediation. Her emphasis on the importance of providing an arts program as a core part of the curriculum is demonstrated in a case study of a seven-year-old boy’s progression through the lab school. The depth of his involvement in the arts, and the author’s concise descriptions of the gains made in basic readiness skills through media as varied as woodworking, filmmaking and dance, build a strong case for the inclusion of the arts in any curriculum. No Easy Answers is an important contribution to the literature on learning disabilities and a must for anybody interested in relating the arts to perceptual disorders.
0197-4556/80/010061-01$02.00/O Copyright o 1980 Ankho International Inc.
Karen McNiff Bridgewater State College Bridgewater, Mass. and Shaun McNiff Lesley College Graduate School Cambridge, Mass.
Vol. 7 p. 61, Ankho
International
Inc.,
1980. Printed
in the U.S.A.
BOOK REVIEW
No Easy Answers:
Teaching
the Learning
Disabled
Child
Sally L. Smith (Winthrop
Publishers,
For many years we have been great admirers of Sally Smith’s pioneering work in educating learning disabled children through the arts. Not only does her book, NO Easy Answers, share her experience with others but we are pleased to see that the quality of her teaching is matched by the quality of the book itself. Sally Smith’s credibility as an expert on learning disabilities is strengthened by the many different roles that she has played in relation to the subject-parent of a learning disabled child; founder and director of The Lab School of the Kingsbury Center in Washington, D.C.; trainer of teachers, and more recently a faculty member at American University. The book is very straightforward and practical in its orientation. Theory evolves directly from personal experience with complete grasp of the subject matter being projected clearly in each chapter. The book’s personal orientation allows the perceptual confusion of the learning disabled child and adolescent to be felt by the reader. It emphasizes the importance of teaching the leaming disabled child how to order the world. The mind of such a child is characterized as immature and unable to organize surrounding stimuli. The teaching of how to learn, how to organize oneself in relation to the materials, the space and the task presented is, therefore, more important at first than teaching content. The author is very aware of the parent, teacher or therapist’s difficult position in relation to the learning disabled child, and she offers suggestions for maintaining a supportive, helping
Cambridge,
MA 1979)
environment. Her outline of teaching strategies simplifies what is often a very complex process of diagnosing a child’s difficulties and providing an effective learning mode. The author points out that the arts relate directly to the skills needed for academic readiness, and are an integral part of her approach. She recommends that methods for presenting the arts to the learning disabled child follow those for teaching any other subject, and points out the often neglected fact that the arts can, in an integrated approach, broadly expand the possibilities for diagnosis and remediation. Her emphasis on the importance of providing an arts program as a core part of the curriculum is demonstrated in a case study of a seven-year-old boy’s progression through the lab school. The depth of his involvement in the arts, and the author’s concise descriptions of the gains made in basic readiness skills through media as varied as woodworking, filmmaking and dance, build a strong case for the inclusion of the arts in any curriculum. No Easy Answers is an important contribution to the literature on learning disabilities and a must for anybody interested in relating the arts to perceptual disorders.
0197-4556/80/010061-01$02.00/O Copyright o 1980 Ankho International Inc.
Karen McNiff Bridgewater State College Bridgewater, Mass. and Shaun McNiff Lesley College Graduate School Cambridge, Mass.