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There actually has been a great deal of research on museums and children with learning disabilities. I started the Accessibility Program at the Smithsonian back in 1978; and we developed programs then for kids with specific learning disabilities, cognitive disabilities, and kids with mental illness. We also developed a training manual for docents and exhibition, program, and publication guidelines that address accessibility for people with learning disabilities among other disabilities. The Smithsonian and many other museums and cultural organizations have done programming and research since and currently. The link to the Smithsonian Accessibility Program that another lister sent is a good start.

The Kennedy Center hosts an accessibility listserv that connects to museums and cultural organizations around the globe and supports an annual conference: https://www.kennedy-center.org/accessibility/education/lead/LEAD-ConferenceBrochure.pdf.

The Institute for Human Centered Design has done ground-breaking work in the area of Universal Design in learning: http://humancentereddesign.org

The National Park Service also has accessible exhibition guidelines http://www.nps.gov/hfc/accessibility/ and sponsors the National Center in Accessibility at Indiana University http://www.ncaonline.org.

Individual museums have also been leaders, such as the Boston Museum of Science, MOMA, the Metropolitan, and the MFA, Boston.

I hope this will be useful to you.

Accessible Museum Consultant

Date: Mon, 28 Apr 2014 23:29:18 -0500
From: Alissa Meehan <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Best Practices for Learning Disabilities in the Museum

Dear Museum Educators,

My name is Alissa Meehan and I am a museum studies graduate student at the
University of Kansas, specializing in education. My thesis is on learning
disabilities in the museum. Currently, there is a lack of research and
programming in this field. My work is designed to help bridge the gap
between museums and teachers so that every student who visits a museum
learns, regardless of ability.

I would appreciate any assistance you can give regarding this subject and
the best practices for learning disabilities in the museum. I would love to
hear what your institution is doing to help benefit learning disabled
children. My topic is specifically on learning and hidden disabilities,
rather than physical disabilities, so please keep that in mind if you wish
to comment (although I certainly recognize that they are connected). In any
case, if your institution has specific programming designed for learning
disabled students, makes tools and adaptations available for students when
they visit with a school group, or if you offer a training session for your
docents/educators about different disabilities, I would really appreciate
hearing how these programs are going and if you'd suggest them for other
institutions.

If you are willing to contact me, or perhaps even have a short telephone
conversation about the ways your institution is working towards making
learning accessible to all, please contact me at [log in to unmask].
All suggestions and comments are appreciated!

Thank you kindly,
Alissa Meehan
Museum Studies Graduate Student
University of Kansas
Sent from my iPhone