LDOnLine.org Celebrates 10th Anniversary with First Ever Inspiration Awards
October 5, 2006
(Washington, D.C.) October is Learning Disabilities Month and LDOnLine.org, the world’s leading Web site on learning disabilities and ADHD, has a lot to celebrate. To mark its 10th anniversary, LD OnLine is launching the first annual LD OnLine Inspiration Awards. The awards honor an individual, an organization, and a celebrity who have had a positive impact on the field of learning disabilities. The site has also been completely redesigned.
"LD OnLine has come a long way in 10 years and we feel an enormous sense of responsibility to keep it thriving and serving those in the LD community," said Noel Gunther, executive director of LD OnLine. "Recognizing others who have contributed to the field over the past decade is a great way to celebrate our anniversary, and we are excited about a new beginning for LD OnLine."
This year’s winners are:
- Individual / Donald D. Deshler, Ph.D. – Director of the Center for Research on Learning at the University of Kansas. Dr. Deshler develops strategies and interventions to help struggling readers. He created the Strategic Instruction Model (SIM), a comprehensive instructional model of literacy intervention for at-risk adolescents. Dr. Deshler has won numerous awards and was named one of the 50 most influential scholars in the field of special education in the 20th century by the Journal of Remedial and Special Education.
- Organization / Emily Hall Tremaine Foundation – The Tremaine Foundation seeks and funds innovative projects that advance solutions to basic and enduring problems. The Foundation has an overall emphasis on education and focuses on art, environment and learning disabilities.
- Celebrity / John R. "Jack" Horner – Dr. Horner is a world-renowned paleontologist, curator at Montana’s Museum of the Rockies, discoverer of the world’s largest Tyrannosaurus rex to date, and was technical advisor to Steven Spielberg’s movies Jurassic Park and its sequel The Lost World. Dr. Horner does not hold a formal degree due to his struggles with dyslexia, but was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Science from the University of Montana in 1986
LD OnLine has also engaged a new senior manager. Dale S. Brown is a nationally recognized leader in the field of learning disabilities and was a Program Manager for the President’s Committee on Employment of People with Disabilities. She has also authored five books on learning disabilities. "I am thrilled to start with LD OnLine at the beginning of its second decade," said Brown. "We intend to become the place where parents, teachers, and people with learning disabilities can go to find whatever they need to help people with learning disabilities reach their full potential."
LD OnLine began operation in 1996 and now serves nearly 300,000 parents, teachers, and other professionals each month. The Web site helps children and adults reach their full potential by providing research-based information and strategies on learning disabilities and ADHD. With a brand new look and feel, LD OnLine features hundreds of helpful articles, monthly columns by noted experts, and first person essays.
The newly redesigned Web site features an active discussion boards section and a referral directory of professionals, schools and products called the Yellow Pages. Parents and teachers can learn the common signs of a learning disability, how to get help early, and learn the specific behaviors and social issues that young people with learning disabilities face. Children are also encouraged to submit artwork and writing to be posted on the site.
LD OnLine has won a Clarion Award as the best non-profit site on the Web, and has recently been recognized as a four-star site by the Tufts University Child & Family WebGuide. The site has received support from most of the leading funders in the field, including Lindamood-Bell Learning Processes®, the Emily Hall Tremaine Foundation, Schwab Foundation for Learning, The Eisner Foundation, Mitsubishi Electric America Foundation, and NEC Foundation of America, among others.
LD OnLine is a service of public broadcasting station WETA, Washington, D.C., and receives generous support from Lindamood-Bell Learning Processes®. WETA is the third-largest producing station of programming for the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) and the flagship public broadcaster in the nation’s capital. Sharon Percy Rockefeller is president and CEO of WETA.
LD OnLine is one of three award-winning national educational Web sites produced by WETA. ReadingRockets.org receives major funding from the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education Programs. ColorinColorado.org is the first major bilingual Web site for parents and educators of English language learners. ColorinColorado.org is funded in part by the American Federation of Teachers and the National Institute for Literacy.