Research & Training Blog

Alicia Keating here with the student intern’s perspective on why you should attend the Landmark College Summer Institute. I’ve been working the Summer Institute’s since 2013, and continue to work it because being a part of Summer Institute is such a valuable experience no matter how you are involved. This summer will be a little different for me because I’m actually presenting a session on ‘Experiencing LD’ in which I will be simulating what it is like to live with an LD, and talking about specific actions that professionals can take to become more accessible communicators. I also run the student panel during the Institute, in which current students tell you about their experiences in education and what led them to Landmark College. Participants typically say that this is one of the highlights of the event because they have the ability to ask students questions about best practices and advice for their students.

Of course, any conference focused on LD is going to be useful--it’s a growing field and there is just so much to learn--but Summer Institute stands out in the crowd because of the commitment to experiential learning, the tone, and the flow of the event. Being a college which is solely for students with learning disabilities or medical disorders which impair learning, the sheer wealth of knowledge on campus is astounding. Particularly for professionals who are coming from places where LD Services is a department, or limited to a few service providers, the Summer Institute can be a refreshing change-over to every single person on campus being committed to making education accessible.

During the Summer Institute, the days are structured so that you take a strand which continues for three days, and then you pick a variety of single sessions to supplement your strand. This enables you to get a wide variety of information within a relatively short (three days) amount of time. The three-day strands that are being offered this year are:

• 21st Century Study Skills: Activating the Inactive Learner
• Math Support and Advocacy for Students with Math Challenges
• Executive Function Support In and Out of the Classroom
• Thriving in College: The Path to Success for Students Who Learn Differently

Say you decide to take the strand of Executive Function but it was a really tough choice between that and 21st Century Study Skills; you can take single sessions on study skills to compensate for not being able to attend both strands. Though every presenter is different and the experience isn’t exactly the same, LCIRT tries really hard to ensure that each participant leaves the Summer Institute with the knowledge that they came for.