Alida Anderson is a professor at the

School of Education In the United States and Canada, a school of education (or college of education; ed school) is a division within a university that is devoted to scholarship in the field of education, which is an interdisciplinary branch of the social sciences en ...

American University The American University (AU or American) is a private federally chartered research university in Washington, D.C. Its main campus spans 90 acres (36 ha) on Ward Circle, mostly in the Spring Valley neighborhood of Northwest D.C. AU was charte ...

Washington, DC ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan ...

Education

Anderson attended Sidwell Friends School in Washington, DC (1987), and holds a BA, Art/Art History and Asian Studies,

Colgate University Colgate University is a private liberal arts college in Hamilton, New York. The college was founded in 1819 as the Baptist Education Society of the State of New York and operated under that name until 1823, when it was renamed Hamilton Theologi ...

Hamilton, NY Hamilton is a town in Madison County, New York, United States. The population was 6,690 at the 2010 census. The town is named after American Founding Father Alexander Hamilton. The Town of Hamilton contains a village also named Hamilton, the s ...

, an MA, Learning Disabilities,

Northwestern University Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston, Illinois. Founded in 1851, Northwestern is the oldest chartered university in Illinois and is ranked among the most prestigious academic institutions in the world. Charte ...

Evanston, IL Evanston ( ) is a city, suburb of Chicago. Located in Cook County, Illinois, United States, it is situated on the North Shore along Lake Michigan. Evanston is north of Downtown Chicago, bordered by Chicago to the south, Skokie to the west, Wil ...

, and a PhD, Special Education, from the

University of Maryland The University of Maryland, College Park (University of Maryland, UMD, or simply Maryland) is a public land-grant research university in College Park, Maryland. Founded in 1856, UMD is the flagship institution of the University System of M ...

College Park, MD College Park is a city in Prince George's County, Maryland, United States, and is approximately four miles (6.4 km) from the northeast border of Washington, D.C. The population was 34,740 at the 2020 United States Census. It is best known a ...

Research

Anderson is a widely published academic researcher, whose work focuses on multiple areas of research in

special education Special education (known as special-needs education, aided education, exceptional education, alternative provision, exceptional student education, special ed., SDC, or SPED) is the practice of educating students in a way that accommodates th ...

and the arts, as well as "cross-linguistic correlation of

dyslexia Dyslexia, also known until the 1960s as word blindness, is a disorder characterized by reading below the expected level for one's age. Different people are affected to different degrees. Problems may include difficulties in spelling words, r ...

." She is the co-editor of ''The Journal of the Arts and Special Education,'' a publication of the Division of the Visual and Performing Arts of the Council for Exceptional Children. One of her 2019 co-authored publications, "International Report: Neuromyths and Evidence-Based Practices in Higher Education" (has been characterized as ''"this study includes not only answers to important research questions, but practice-oriented information that is useful for pedagogy, course design, and leadership, as well as for further research on this topic"'', and the earlier (2017) publication on the same general subject, "Dispelling the Myth: Training in Education or Neuroscience", was described as ''"the implications of these new findings are very relevant to the way we teach in the classroom"'', and also noted that this research affirmed ''"that neuromyth beliefs are remarkably prevalent, but that training in education and neuroscience helped to reduce these false beliefs."'' Her earlier research study, ''"''Dance/Movement Therapy’s Influence on Adolescents Mathematics, Social-Emotional and Dance Skills"'','' has been described as ''"integrating dance and movement therapy into math lessons for students with learning disabilities, emotional/behavioral disabilities and/or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD),'' hich''led to improvements in math as well as SEL'' ocial-Emotional Learning''skills, such as motivation, engagement, attention and self-regulation"'', and concluded that ''"the findings were significant because students with those special needs often show anxiety toward learning math."'' Anderson was also the lead author in a 2020 seminal article titled "A Review of Online Dyslexia Learning Modules", which focused on discrediting the "Dyslexia Myth" of "Backwards Reading." She is the editor of the book "Arts Integration and Special Education: An Inclusive Theory of Action for Student Engagement." The book has been described as ''"the first book to posit explanations for how and why arts integration facilitates learning in students with language and sensory processing disorders and those at risk for failure due to low socioeconomic conditions."'' Anderson defines her interpretation of "arts integration" as “the use of an art form (drama, dance, visual arts, etc.) in combination with teaching of a content area (math, science, social studies, language arts, etc.), in which there are content learning objectives in the art form as well as in the content area.” In 2020 Anderson was credited as being one of the "thinkers" who, together with the Arts Education Partnership in

Denver Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of t ...

, "began exploring intersections of arts education and literacies" that led to the eventual creation of an online resource that "incorporates art and text to support different experiences and interactions as you explore the relationships between art, arts education and literacies."

References

External links

“Teaching Students with Autism: What Teaching Theater Teaches Us”, 2016 Webinar at Kennedy Center"The Teacher and the Teaching Artist: Collaboration and Community Building in the Classroom"
2018 Webinar at Kennedy Center {{DEFAULTSORT:Anderson, Alida Living people American University American University faculty and staff American writers Academics from Washington, D.C. Year of birth missing (living people) University of Maryland, College Park alumni Northwestern University alumni Sidwell Friends School alumni Colgate University alumni