Schwab Learning: Helping Kids With Learning Difficulties
A few days ago I had the fantastic opportunity to attend the YPulse Mashup '07 in San Francisco. This conference was put together by the amazing and talented Anastastia Goodstein, author of the book Totally Wired: What Teens and Tweens Are Really Doing Online as well as the Teen Media blog YPulse.
I'll be posting more about the YPulse Mashup later (sidebar: I have SO much YPulse 411 to blog about--stuff like the brilliant Aseem Badsha of Scriptovia! More on him later...), but in the meantime I couldn't wait to share some excellent resources for parents, teachers and students with learning difficulties.
At the conference I had the pleasure to meet Pearl and Lisa from the Schwab Learning Foundation, a philanthropic foundation set up by Charles and Helen Schwab dedicated to providing resources, information, and research on learning difficulties. They also have a Spanish language mirror site.
Schwab Learning is chock full of important resources to help parents connect, identify learning difficulties, along with strategies for working with the education system. Be sure to check out the vast collection of videos, books, and articles in their digital library.
In addition, Schwab Learning has developed an online community called Spark Top where children with various types of learning difficulties can connect and discover their "unique ways of learning, develop their strengths and self-esteem, and discover strategies to succeed in and out of school.
Spark Top provides a safe place for kids to interact, share their worries, concerns and successes, and get feedback from kids just like them."
I highly recommend both Schwab Learning and Spark Top to teachers, parents or anyone who works with children with learning challenges. Be sure to check out the SparkTop teachers resources too. There isn't a "one size fits all" learning style. We are complex creatures and we all learn in different ways.
Thanks to Lisa and Pearl for introducing me to the wonderful array of resources they provide to children, parents, and educators. If you have any questions--drop them a line! These are wonderful people who have dedicated their careers to helping children with learning difficulties.
And thanks to Anastasia and Modern Media for putting together such a great conference. I'm already looking forward to next years YPulse Mashup!
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