The Lab School of Baltimore, founded in 2000, is an offshoot of the 41-year-old Lab School of Washington, which was founded by the late Sally Smith, an educator who died of cancer at 78 last December.

Smith saw the need for an alternative school for students who weren't succeeding in traditional schools.

It was a need that hit close to home. Smith's son, Gary, now 46 and a small business owner and teacher, had dyslexia and attention deficit disorder that interfered with his ability to process information. He didn't learn to read until he was 13.

Sally Smith stumbled on a solution. According to school brochures and Baltimore Lab School Principal Andrew Zvara, she often threw themed birthday parties for her three sons, where guests wore costumes and role-played. Her son could hardly remember his ABCs, but remembered every detail about the parties.

Smith realized that her son retained information when his senses were stimulated by music, drama, movement and visual imagery. She used that as the model for the Lab School's curriculum.

For example, she told Child magazine in 2007, she wanted students learning about Brazilian culture to "dance to bossa nova music, design Carnival costumes, play soccer and sample cuisine -- all activities that help social studies lessons sink in."

According to its Web site, www.labschool.org/content/philosophy, The Lab School's philosophy is based on the belief that students are successful when they learn through creative thinking and hands-on experiences in the classroom and beyond.

That philosophy is incorporated throughout the curriculum and in almost every class lesson.

"A child's failure to learn means that the teaching staff has not yet found a way to help him," the Web site states. "It is up to (educators) to seek out the routes by which each child learns, to discover (their) strengths and interests, and to experiment until effective techniques are found."

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