Assisted Learning

The Discovery Center is a program established by the National Institute for Learning Development in Norfolk, Virginia. It is designed to meet the needs of students with identified, specific learning disabilities. The student participates in one-on-one educational therapy in an intensive program designed to stimulate deficit areas in perception and cognition.

The goal of therapy is twofold: 1) to enable the student to become independent and successful in the regular classroom and 2) to make it possible for the student to achieve at a level commensurate with his God-given potential. Students meet with an educational therapist for two 80-minute periods each week. Parents are trained to follow through at home with crucial elements of the therapy process. The number of years a student is enrolled in the program depends on the severity of the deficit and consistency of commitment to the therapy program. Discovery therapists work with general education teachers to make accommodations for student success. The goal is for the student to need fewer accommodations in the classroom as they progress in their therapy.

Search and Teach is the early childhood component of Discovery. Using the Search test, kindergarten and first grade students can be identified as "at risk" for difficulty in learning to read. The Teach component prescribes a specific program of therapy to prevent learning failure and its emotional consequences. Students work one-on-one with a therapist for four 20-minute sessions per week.

The Directed Studies program is structured to provide instructional assistance to students for whom success in the regular classroom is a challenge. The course is designed to help students master content, while developing study and organizational skills. In addition, the students enrolled in the course are eligible for individualized accommodations as indicated by testing, teacher observations, student self-evaluation, and past performance. Directed Studies is offered as a small-group middle and upper school class meeting five days a week for credit. A lower school Directed Studies class meets two times a week.