About Sally Smith (1929-2007)
Sally L. Smith founded and designed The Lab School of Washington in 1967 for intelligent children and adults with learning disabilities. She was also a Professor in the School of Education at American University in charge of the Master’s Degree Program in Special Education: Learning Disabilities. It was Professor Smith’s belief that everyone can learn, and she designed Lab School teaching approaches involving all the art forms and experiential education to teach academic skills to children and adults. She developed the Academic Club Method, a highly scholastic academic vehicle that teaches history, geography, civics or any subject through the arts, which has been overwhelmingly successful with Lab School students since its inception. It builds storehouses of knowledge, vocabulary, fluency of language, and critical thinking in poor readers and non-readers, which good readers develop from prolific reading.
Professor Smith was a national leader in the field of learning disabilities. In April 2001, American University gave her a medal for twenty-five years of outstanding service. In November 1999, she was recognized as a Principal of Excellence and presented with the Distinguished Educational Leadership Award by The Washington Post. In May 1999, she was recognized by Birmingham-Southern College as a “Woman of Distinction.” In October 1997, she was the first recipient of the Celebrating Abilities Award for Outstanding Contributions to the Field of Learning Disabilities presented by the Learning Disabilities Association of Georgia. In May 1995, she was honored with the American University Faculty Award for Outstanding Scholarship, Research and Other Professional Contributions. In February 1993, she received the LDA Award from the Learning Disabilities Association of America, the highest honor given in her field, in recognition and appreciation of outstanding leadership in the field of learning disabilities. In 2004, Professor Smith was awarded the Educator 500 President’s Award for educational innovation from the West Chester University’s School of Education and the Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce.
For twelve years, Sally Smith was one of the elected specialists on the Professional Advisory Board of the Learning Disabilities Association of America and was an elected member of the Professional Advisory Board of the National Center of Learning Disabilities for six years. From 1988 to 1999 she was a consultant on learning disabilities to the State Department Family Liaison Office and from 1990 - 1994, a member of the Advisory Board of the I Have A Dream Foundation in Washington, DC. She served on the U.S. Task Force on the Definition of Developmental Disabilities in 1976-77. She testified as an expert witness before the Senate Committee on Labor and Human Resources. She was a member of the Advisory Council on the Arts in Education for the National Endowment for the Arts. She held workshops all over the United States and Canada as well as in Greece, and Switzerland for the European Council of International Schools.
As the author of ten books and a number of articles in professional magazines, Sally Smith has mastered the art of translating difficult clinical issues into popular language. The 1985 Encyclopedia Britannica Medical and Health Annual included a section on learning disabilities authored by Professor Smith. Her best known books are No Easy Answers: The Learning Disabled Child At Home and At School (Bantam new edition February, 1995), and Succeeding Against The Odds: Helping The Learning Disabled Realize Their Promise, (Tarcher/Perigee), published in paperback in January 1993, and recipient of the New York Orton Dyslexia Society’s 1995 Margot Marek Book Award. Sin Respuestas Simples: El Niño con Problemas de Aprendizaje En El Hogar Y En La Escuela, (Editorial Plaza Mayor, Inc.) the Spanish translation of No Easy Answers, was published in the fall of 1999. Different Is Not Bad: Different Is The World, (Sopris West), a book on disabilities for young children was published in November 1994, and is being widely used in inclusive classrooms. There is a Korean edition (2003). In 1996, both No Easy Answers and Different Is Not Bad: Different is the World were selected to receive the prestigious 1996 Parents’ Choice Award. Professor Smith’s The Power of the Arts: Creative Strategies for Teaching Exceptional Learners (Brookes Publishing) was published in January 2001, and presents arts activities and their effectiveness with children with learning disabilities, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, language disorders, and those who are at risk for failure. Sally Smith’s tenth book, Live It. Learn It. The Academic Club Methodology for Students with Learning Disabilities and ADHD was published in January 2005 (Brookes Publishing).
PBS produced four films in January 2002, demonstrating the teacher training techniques Sally Smith originated and used at American University and at The Lab School. They are entitled “‘Teach Me Different’ with Sally Smith.” These films won the TELLY AWARD for first place in the Education category in 2002. In 2003, the films won the SILVER INTERNATIONAL CINDY (Cinema in Industry) AWARD - from the International Association of Audio Visual Communicators. The May/June 2002 issue of Pediatric Nursing featured an article by Sally Smith entitled “What Do Parents of Children with Learning Disabilities, ADHD, and Related Disorders Deal With?” The October 2002 issue of Teacher Magazine had a long feature article on Sally Smith. Professor Smith was interviewed extensively by the National Center for Learning Disabilities (NCLD) in a piece entitled “Creativity and Learning Disabilities” which appeared as an E-publication in December, 2002, and in the NCLD’s Winter 2003 newsletter, Our World. In June 2003, LdOnline.org chose Sally Smith as its “Mentor of the Month.” Sally Smith was the graduation speaker at Tasis Hellenic International School in Athens, Greece. She was also invited by the U.S. Embassy in Athens to hold a three-hour workshop for teachers and parents entitled, “Stop the Blaming: It’s the Nature of the Condition of Learning Disabilities.” Feature articles about Sally Smith have appeared in the Baltimore Sun, Smart Woman Magazine, Washington Home and Garden Magazine, American, the magazine of American University, Washington’s Finest Magazine, Education Update, and Child Magazine as a “trailblazer for the learning disabled.” She has spoken on numerous radio and TV shows, including WAMU's Kojo Nnamdi Show. Sally Smith is featured in, Extraordinary Women: Fantasies Revealed 58 Women of Accomplishment Portray Hidden Dreams and Real Hopes (Stewart, Tobari, and Chang, 2005). In May 2006, Sally Smith was featured on The Today Show. In 2007, Professor Smith was cited in a full-page “Profile in Education,” in Teaching, Schools, and Society (8th edition), a textbook used by 100,000 educators in training, by David Miller Sadker, Myra Pollack Sadker, Karen R. Zittleman. Sally Smith was a 2007 recipient of Meredith Publishings' Annual Children’s Champion Awards.
Sally Smith has replicated The Lab School of Washington’s program in Baltimore. In September 2000, Baltimore Lab began with 18 students and in 2006-2007 had 131 students grades 1-11. Baltimore Lab is located at 2220 St. Paul Street, Baltimore, Maryland. The first class will graduate in 2008. In 2005 she opened an Academic Club Teaching Service (ACTS) to help other schools use the Academic Club Methodology in such locales as Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. She has been very involved with principals and teachers in the D.C. Public Schools presenting workshops and lectures on her methodology. In September 2006, The Academy in Manayunk opened in Philadelphia employing the Sally L. Smith Methodology®. There will be new schools in the future.
Professor Smith was a national leader in the field of learning disabilities. In April 2001, American University gave her a medal for twenty-five years of outstanding service. In November 1999, she was recognized as a Principal of Excellence and presented with the Distinguished Educational Leadership Award by The Washington Post. In May 1999, she was recognized by Birmingham-Southern College as a “Woman of Distinction.” In October 1997, she was the first recipient of the Celebrating Abilities Award for Outstanding Contributions to the Field of Learning Disabilities presented by the Learning Disabilities Association of Georgia. In May 1995, she was honored with the American University Faculty Award for Outstanding Scholarship, Research and Other Professional Contributions. In February 1993, she received the LDA Award from the Learning Disabilities Association of America, the highest honor given in her field, in recognition and appreciation of outstanding leadership in the field of learning disabilities. In 2004, Professor Smith was awarded the Educator 500 President’s Award for educational innovation from the West Chester University’s School of Education and the Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce.
For twelve years, Sally Smith was one of the elected specialists on the Professional Advisory Board of the Learning Disabilities Association of America and was an elected member of the Professional Advisory Board of the National Center of Learning Disabilities for six years. From 1988 to 1999 she was a consultant on learning disabilities to the State Department Family Liaison Office and from 1990 - 1994, a member of the Advisory Board of the I Have A Dream Foundation in Washington, DC. She served on the U.S. Task Force on the Definition of Developmental Disabilities in 1976-77. She testified as an expert witness before the Senate Committee on Labor and Human Resources. She was a member of the Advisory Council on the Arts in Education for the National Endowment for the Arts. She held workshops all over the United States and Canada as well as in Greece, and Switzerland for the European Council of International Schools.
As the author of ten books and a number of articles in professional magazines, Sally Smith has mastered the art of translating difficult clinical issues into popular language. The 1985 Encyclopedia Britannica Medical and Health Annual included a section on learning disabilities authored by Professor Smith. Her best known books are No Easy Answers: The Learning Disabled Child At Home and At School (Bantam new edition February, 1995), and Succeeding Against The Odds: Helping The Learning Disabled Realize Their Promise, (Tarcher/Perigee), published in paperback in January 1993, and recipient of the New York Orton Dyslexia Society’s 1995 Margot Marek Book Award. Sin Respuestas Simples: El Niño con Problemas de Aprendizaje En El Hogar Y En La Escuela, (Editorial Plaza Mayor, Inc.) the Spanish translation of No Easy Answers, was published in the fall of 1999. Different Is Not Bad: Different Is The World, (Sopris West), a book on disabilities for young children was published in November 1994, and is being widely used in inclusive classrooms. There is a Korean edition (2003). In 1996, both No Easy Answers and Different Is Not Bad: Different is the World were selected to receive the prestigious 1996 Parents’ Choice Award. Professor Smith’s The Power of the Arts: Creative Strategies for Teaching Exceptional Learners (Brookes Publishing) was published in January 2001, and presents arts activities and their effectiveness with children with learning disabilities, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, language disorders, and those who are at risk for failure. Sally Smith’s tenth book, Live It. Learn It. The Academic Club Methodology for Students with Learning Disabilities and ADHD was published in January 2005 (Brookes Publishing).
PBS produced four films in January 2002, demonstrating the teacher training techniques Sally Smith originated and used at American University and at The Lab School. They are entitled “‘Teach Me Different’ with Sally Smith.” These films won the TELLY AWARD for first place in the Education category in 2002. In 2003, the films won the SILVER INTERNATIONAL CINDY (Cinema in Industry) AWARD - from the International Association of Audio Visual Communicators. The May/June 2002 issue of Pediatric Nursing featured an article by Sally Smith entitled “What Do Parents of Children with Learning Disabilities, ADHD, and Related Disorders Deal With?” The October 2002 issue of Teacher Magazine had a long feature article on Sally Smith. Professor Smith was interviewed extensively by the National Center for Learning Disabilities (NCLD) in a piece entitled “Creativity and Learning Disabilities” which appeared as an E-publication in December, 2002, and in the NCLD’s Winter 2003 newsletter, Our World. In June 2003, LdOnline.org chose Sally Smith as its “Mentor of the Month.” Sally Smith was the graduation speaker at Tasis Hellenic International School in Athens, Greece. She was also invited by the U.S. Embassy in Athens to hold a three-hour workshop for teachers and parents entitled, “Stop the Blaming: It’s the Nature of the Condition of Learning Disabilities.” Feature articles about Sally Smith have appeared in the Baltimore Sun, Smart Woman Magazine, Washington Home and Garden Magazine, American, the magazine of American University, Washington’s Finest Magazine, Education Update, and Child Magazine as a “trailblazer for the learning disabled.” She has spoken on numerous radio and TV shows, including WAMU's Kojo Nnamdi Show. Sally Smith is featured in, Extraordinary Women: Fantasies Revealed 58 Women of Accomplishment Portray Hidden Dreams and Real Hopes (Stewart, Tobari, and Chang, 2005). In May 2006, Sally Smith was featured on The Today Show. In 2007, Professor Smith was cited in a full-page “Profile in Education,” in Teaching, Schools, and Society (8th edition), a textbook used by 100,000 educators in training, by David Miller Sadker, Myra Pollack Sadker, Karen R. Zittleman. Sally Smith was a 2007 recipient of Meredith Publishings' Annual Children’s Champion Awards.
Sally Smith has replicated The Lab School of Washington’s program in Baltimore. In September 2000, Baltimore Lab began with 18 students and in 2006-2007 had 131 students grades 1-11. Baltimore Lab is located at 2220 St. Paul Street, Baltimore, Maryland. The first class will graduate in 2008. In 2005 she opened an Academic Club Teaching Service (ACTS) to help other schools use the Academic Club Methodology in such locales as Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. She has been very involved with principals and teachers in the D.C. Public Schools presenting workshops and lectures on her methodology. In September 2006, The Academy in Manayunk opened in Philadelphia employing the Sally L. Smith Methodology®. There will be new schools in the future.