Academic Club Teaching Service

Professor Smith’s book, Live It, Learn It: The Academic Club Methodology for Students with Learning Disabilities and ADHD (Brookes Publishing – January 2005) is an excellent and thorough guide book for many creative and dedicated teachers and administrators who want to establish Academic Clubs at other schools. But for many others, a more comprehensive training and support system is needed. Professor Smith and several of her most experienced and successful Academic Club Leaders have developed the Academic Club Teaching Service. The ACTS will work closely with teachers and school administrators, both at Lab School acting as a demonstration center and at the client group’s site, to educate and train teachers to implement the Academic Club Method. The participants will be guided through every step of the year-long process of establishing and developing clubs that will convey the highest level academic content.


When students love learning and teachers love to teach, the atmosphere of a school is dynamic. The mission of the Academic Club Training Service (ACTS) is:

  • to guide other schools in implementing what has been a highly effective teaching method at The Lab School of Washington and Baltimore Lab;
  • to train better, happier teachers, empowering them to model intellectual curiosity, develop a hands-on, multi-sensory arts-based approach to teaching, targeting very specific academic objectives; and
  • to ensure that children, particularly those with learning disabilities and attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder, become excited about learning and find their intellectual voices.


Ultimately, the Academic Club Methodology invigorates an entire school community. In its emphasis on authenticity and the use of many modalities, including multiple art forms to teach abstract, complex ideas through concrete activities, the Academic Club Leaders demonstrate truly unique forms of group work and high level learning that lasts a lifetime.


What services does the ACTS provide?

Intensive 2 and ½ Training Institute – for 4-5 members of the client team at the Lab School of Washington.

Material covered includes:

  • Academic Club Method theories and essential elements
  • Participants are immersed in the Academic Club Methodology through didactic, as well as experiential, activities led by our experienced Academic Club Leaders.
  • Planning and implementation of Academic Clubs


Participants learn:

  • how to design and start up new academic clubs
  • how to invent their own clubs and club activities geared toward developing a comprehensive curriculum
  • group management techniques that are unique to the Academic Club approach and the needs of the student population
  • how to achieve scholastic, emotional and social goals in the Academic Club environment
  • how to design and make diagnostic prescriptive games for use in the Academic Clubs
  • how to convert abstract ideas into concrete, practical activities, including ways of teaching difficult content
  • Evaluation and Assessment
  • How to evaluate what students have learned without paper and pencil tests
  • Guided observations of all elements of the Method
  • Participants visit and observe The Lab School of Washington Academic Clubs
  • Team-building


Team members are provided a handbook, video and support materials. After the initial training, the client team receives the following additional services and support.

Site Visits – We provide three days of training, observation and assessment at your site by an experienced Lab School Academic Club leader.
Telephone and E-mail Consultation – We provide regular consultation for administrators and teachers during the first year of implementation.
Communication - ACTS newsletter and website facilitate communication and information sharing between The Lab School and the ACTS participants.
Materials – In addition to training materials, Lab School will provide sample diagnostic prescriptive games and other materials to be used in the clubs.
Costs - for training and consultation are $25,000 for the year.

Training is provided by our experienced Academic Club Leaders:

Sally L. Smith was the Founder/Director of The Lab School of Washington, a school she designed and founded in 1967 for intelligent children and adults with learning disabilities and ADHD. Since 1976, She was a Professor in the School of Education at American University, directing the Master’s Degree Program in Special Education: Learning Disabilities. Professor Smith was a nationally recognized leader in the field of learning disabilities. She has been the recipient of numerous awards, including the LDA Award from The Learning Disabilities Association of America, the highest honor in her field, in recognition of outstanding leadership in the field of learning disabilities.

Noel Bicknell has a masters degree in Special Education: Learning Disabilities from American University and has been leading Academic Clubs for 8 years.

Sarah Lowenberg has a masters degree in Special Education: Learning Disabilities from American University and has been leading Academic Clubs for 5 years.

Amanda Wolfe has a masters degree in Special Education: Learning Disabilities from American University and has been leading Academic Clubs for twelve years.


For further information, contact:
Emily Marchetti
202.944.3083
emily.marchetti@labschool.org