2 min read September 2023 — Invest: spoke with Suzanne Stell, executive director and head of school at the Shelton School, to discuss how supporting students with learning differences brings out the best in children who would otherwise fall behind academically and socially. “In spite of being diagnosed with learning differences, the 92 seniors in the Shelton Class of 2023 received $9.6 million in merit scholarships based on how they performed on the ACT and SAT exam,” she highlighted.
What are the most effective learning methods for students with learning differences?
Shelton is the largest independent school for intelligent students with learning differences. Our school educates children from Early Childhood through twelfth grade. Students who come to Shelton have not been successful in the educational environments they’ve been in because of learning differences. We strive to teach them the way they learn best. Many of our students come to Shelton with dyslexia and ADHD, so we offer four different multisensory reading programs depending on the learning difference. When a student enters Shelton, we customize our curriculum to meet the needs of the child. We teach the structure of writing and have programs to teach our teachers in practices that can best serve students. To that end, teachers can become certified in the Montessori method from early childhood through fourth grade and in reading therapy programs. We instruct students to become their own self advocates to help ensure they have future success. For example, our students lead their parent-teacher conferences from an early age and discuss what they are doing to address their learning differences.
Why is language such a key piece of the educational development of Shelton students?
Language is the basis of all learning. Shelton has 1,100 students, many of whom moved to Dallas to attend our school. A majority of our students come to Shelton with language needs, including the receptive and expressive aspects, so they work specifically with our speech pathologists to support their educational growth. Shelton’s teacher-to-student ratio is 1:6, and our educators specialize in speech and language therapy, so they are able to work very closely with our students. Our reading programs are phonics-based, so they reach each child the best way possible for us to remediate his or her learning difference. It’s an alphabetic phonics program that is specific to what research shows helps children. Overall, the Dallas region is very robust with resources for learning differences.That goes back to the 1960s when Dr. Lucius Waites developed the first program to identify and treat children with dyslexia at Scottish Rite Hospital, right here in Dallas.
How will the Beckley Wilson Act grow awareness and services for learning differences?
The Beckley Wilson Act for Dyslexia Education, which is named for Shelton ninth-grade student Beckley Wilson, improves a student’s eligibility for special education services provided by a school district. It will help students in public schools receive the services they need and it brings dyslexia and learning differences to the forefront, as well. More public schools are adding dyslexia specialists and this legislation allows the specialist to attend meetings to help children. It’s just an example of how much impact this act will have on improving services for students with learning differences.
What are the new programs and initiatives that Shelton is rolling out?
Our Wellness Initiative is critical right now and we will continue to push it forward. Shelton’s Early Childhood students all the way up through our twelfth graders learn strategies to deal with anxiety. This includes biofeedback. We also partner with UT Southwestern for the YAM (Youth Aware of Mental Health) program. YAM is an interactive mental health program for eighth through twelfth graders that encourages increased discussion and knowledge about mental health and the development of problem-solving skills and emotional intelligence.
Social skills and communication will also always be core to the development of our children. We want our students to do as much extracurricular engagement as possible because it builds who they are as a whole person. Before coming to Shelton, many of our children interacted with tutors almost their whole lives and hadn’t been able to experience extracurricular activities. We offer sports, fine arts and esports along with unique offerings, such as digital animation, coding, broadcast journalism, quiz bowls, film and dance. In the sciences, we offer anatomy, robotics, forensics and engineering. These clubs and courses are a great way for students to connect with each other.
What have been some recent student successes at Shelton?
The 92 seniors in Shelton’s Class of 2023 received $9.6 million in merit scholarships based on how they performed on the ACT and SAT exams, including some perfect scores on the reading section by students with dyslexia. Ten students scored 30 or higher on the ACT Composite and 23 scored 30 or higher on the ACT Reading. Remember, our students come to Shelton with challenges that often very specifically and negatively impact their test-taking ability. For these students to achieve such scores and success is amazing. Some of our alumni have gone on to write books, become doctors, work as engineers and more. This is a tremendous marker of what children can achieve when they are in the right educational environment such as Shelton. Children with learning differences can change the world, but without the proper intervention, they wouldn’t have that chance.
For more information, visit:
