Bennington Remembers Pioneering Educator, Sally L. Smith '50

Sally L. Smith '50, founder of The Lab School--a school known for its innovative curriculum and its inordinate success in teaching children with learning disabilities, died on Saturday, December 1, 2007. "The world of special education has lost one of its leading lights," National Public Radio declared in their December 4, 2007 report.

Sally L. Smith founded and directed The Lab School of Washington, in 1967. She was a Professor in the School of Education at American University in charge of the Master’s Degree Program in Special Education: Learning Disabilities since 1976. Smith’s awards were many, some included a medal from American University for twenty-five years of outstanding service, a Principal of Excellence award with the Distinguished Educational Leadership Award given by The Washington Post, and 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.

As the author of ten books, Smith mastered the art of translating difficult clinical issues into popular language. Her first book, titled, A Child's Guide to the Parent's Mind, was published in 1951 with the help of former faculty member Erich Fromm, who saw great potential in Smith's senior thesis. 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. In 1996, both No Easy Answers and Different Is Not Bad: Different is the World won the prestigious 1996 Parents’ Choice Award. 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. 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 award-winning films in 2002, demonstrating the teacher training techniques Smith originated and uses at American University and at The Lab School. The films are entitled “‘Teach Me Different’ with Sally Smith,” and in May 2006, Smith was featured on The Today Show.

To read the reports by National Public Radio or The Washington Post, follow the corresponding links.
To purchase her books, please follow the corresponding links.