an excerpt from:

Assistive Technology: Making the Impossible Possible by Neal Starkman THE Journal

"Our goal is to say, 'There's nothing wrong with you.'"

Among the students currently enrolled in Laurel Springs School, you'll find Sara Montgomery. You'll never see her, though, just as you'll never see the other 5,000 Laurel Springs students-unless you attend the graduation ceremony in Ojai, CA. That's because Laurel Springs is a distance learning school; its students live all over the United States and abroad (although an additional 7,000 public school students use the Laurel Springs' curriculum in a traditional classroom setting). And that arrangement suits Sara just fine.

Sara, 16, has Asperger's syndrome-a neurobiological disorder that resembles high-functioning autism-as well as mild cerebral palsy. Not only wasn't Sara achieving to her potential in public school, she was becoming more and more isolated. In high school, the situation worsened as Sara had to confront bullies, too. "I felt she wasn't getting the education she needed," her mother, Shirley, says. "She started getting depressed." It wasn't that the schools didn't try to accommodate her; it was that their efforts more often than not just made her stand out more.

At Laurel Springs, Shirley found a school that would tailor its curriculum to her daughter's needs. Learning-style coaches meet with each student, assess the student's strengths and abilities, then design the curriculum accordingly. For example, a student with attention deficit disorder might be a hands-on learner, or a performer, or a game player. So the curriculum might involve more audio work instead of written work, or more hands-on materials for math.

"It's a relief to know that there's a place out there where [she] can go to get the kind of education I want her to get." -Shirley Montgomery, mother of Laurel Springs

After an assessment, Sara began an online curriculum. Now she works from her home and is thriving. She's a proficient typist, and she's self-motivated-two attributes that suit her well at Laurel Springs. She's been getting mostly A's, and she feels better about herself. She has friends, and she doesn't have to face getting picked on in school anymore-and her mother doesn't have to "worry about the phone ringing at work, saying, 'You have to come get Sara,' or worry about her being on the bus." The aspiring college student (83 percent of Laurel Springs students go on to college) wants a career that involves working with animals. "Laurel Springs is a great school," says Shirley. "It's a relief to know that there's a place out there where Sara can go to get the kind of education I want her to get."

Laurel Springs provides accreditation (with the Western Association of Schools and Colleges and with the National Independent Study Accreditation Council), records, transcripts, diplomas, and support. Course material is aligned to California state standards, and every student works one-to-one with a teacher, who is available via e-mail, telephone, fax, and regular mail. Sara's teacher, who lives in Belgium, calls Sara every week.

Laurel Springs also provides two "life-learning" electives, which require students to participate in a class or a community group. The school offers four basic modes of learning-online (80 courses are available), text-based (using state-approved texts correlated to state standards), choice-based (a method modeled along the lines of the Waldorf philosophy of education), and project-based (with a focus on literature and history)-but these four learning modes aren't discrete. Students can switch from one to another as they're further assessed.

Laurel Springs founder Marilyn Mosley wants the school to work for all its students, but especially those like Sara. She says that many children come in feeling dejected, having been through harsh experiences and suffering poor self-esteem. "Our goal is to say, 'There's nothing wrong with you. If we did more hands-on learning, etc., you would be able to assimilate that material.'"

Read the article in full at http://www.thejournal.com/articles/19920