Our Learning Lab Gets Results!

The Nawa Academy Learning Lab is an optional service provided on campus for students with language-based learning differences. These students receive one-on-one educational therapy by trained specialists once each week in our Learning Lab. As their skills increase, so does their classroom performance and their self confidence.

• Located on our campus
• Designed to improve reading comprehension, language, spelling and written expression
• Designed for students who need additional academic support
• Designed for students who have language-based learning differences such as Dyslexia

The Learning Lab helps students reconfigure the way their brains process language by integrating simple and complex bi-hemisphere movements with mental focus and language.

This approach, developed from published research conducted by Dr. Carla Hannaford, Dr. Robert Sylwester, Dr. Marian Diamond, and Dr. Paul Dennison, applies the most current brain research to the learning environment. The application of this research is described in the book, S’Cool Moves For Learning: A Program Designed to Enhance Learning Through Body-Mind Integration, by Debra M. Wilson and Margo C. Heiniger. Nawa Academy is fortunate to have Debra Wilson as the lead consultant to the Learning Lab, and she works closely with our Learning Lab instructors, Deans, and academic instructors to make sure that learning is reinforced across the curriculum.

Current brain research, applied S’Cool Moves research, and our own history of astounding Learning Lab successes all validate the importance of movement in the learning process. Language acquisition, reading, and writing are incredibly complex activities which require the full attention of both sides of the brain. Specific integrative movements can help activate the entire brain, which results in enhanced visual and auditory processing, an increased ability to focus, and a strengthening of literacy, language retention, and written and verbal expression. The combination of the Learning Lab with Nawa’s experiential education and hands-on learning can equate to huge advances in student learning, academic success, and self-esteem.

Debra Wilson holds a Masters in Education with a clinical reading option. She is credentialed in Biology, Physical Education, Multiple Subjects and is a Language Art Specialist. She has developed successful reading programs for adult, high school, and elementary students who have had a history of reading and learning challenges.