McNichols Learning Foundation

Our education system was formed about 130 years before dyslexia was proven in 1964. This means that generations of teachers have unintentionally used incomplete information when instructing children. To provide support for students and teachers, we seek to fill the current gaps through after school programs with an abundance of multi-sensory materials. We also intend to train and mentor interested adults in their local communities and thoughtfully expand services.

23 years ago, Lenore met Joan McNichols and discovered multi-sensory education -- a perfect complement to her background in organic change strategies. A volunteer at Outreach Services for The Dyslexia Foundation (TDF), Lenore used her writing and language arts experience to interview scientists and specialists in learning, write articles, and publish the TDF Newsletter. Over time, those interviews and Joan’s many shared experiences inspired her to delve into Orton-Gillingham-based reading programs such as Lindamood-Bell LIPS, Wilson Reading, Slingerland, and the Texas Scottish Rite Hospital (TSRH) Reading program. Under Joan's mentorship, Lenore also developed her multi-sensory math skills, using manipulatives to teach children and teens how to organically understand what they had not grasped in class. On Joan's passing late in 2018, Lenore stepped in and kept her center open through Covid. In July 2022, she created the McNichols Learning Foundation, a 501(c)(3) educational non-profit, to serve the disadvantaged.

Lenore’s Story: Over a century earlier, my grandfather helped found a school in the prairies of Canada. Then, in the 1930’s his prairie farmlands turned to dust in the Drought. After 4 years of holding on, he left what had once been his fertile land. Joan in her way had also been a farmer for the educational hopes of children with learning differences like dyslexia and dyscalculia. For well over 30 years in Orange County, her commitment touched 3 generations of children and transformed the lives of every person, including myself, who came to know her. After she died, it was either save both the concrete materials she had collected and the trainings she had provided or close up shop and abandon all the materials—useless without training. The effects of Covid on children and teachers have made McNichols Learning Foundation even more necessary and its supporters even more committed to preserving Joan’s knowledge and legacy.

Alphabet letters represent sounds. Words on a page can be difficult for some to read. Numbers represent physical quantities like 10 miles or 3 students. Printed numbers describing values can be difficult for some to figure out. It is time to give learning different children reading and math paths aligned with their brain wiring rather than that of the child sitting at the next desk. Our reading program called SHOMI uses phonics and first connects sounds with letter shapes kinesthetically rather than visually. Our GAP math plan uses buildable three-dimensional materials to kinesthetically develop a solid sense of number values, patterns, and functions. These organic approaches stimulate concept formation. Matching, identifying, naming, comparing, classifying, and sequencing guide learners to notice relationships, comprehend meaning, and apply their developing reasoning skills.
As math and reading fears dissolve, these learners begin to say “I get it”—words spontaneously uttered as their heads jerk up and smiles appear. Once children who have struggled realize that they can indeed learn, they make the very best of dedicated pupils. Each ripple in the pool of comprehension expands to classroom, family, and community. Success generates success. Researchers like Maryanne Wolf and Sally and Bennett Shaywitz, and educators like Joan McNichols participated in the Extraordinary Brain Conferences put on by The Dyslexia Foundation—TDF. Originally called the National Dyslexia Research Foundation, it was created by Will Baker, a dyslexic, and connected researchers, educators, dyslexics, and supporters for over 30 years. Joan attended all of his conferences, shared the information with teachers in Canada, the United States, China, Spain, New Zealand, and Australia, and mentored people like me and Marilyn Bloomberg Dietiker who seek to spread her mission to disadvantaged communities in Orange County. For further information please contact Lenore Waring: 1-714-313-4223.

This Foundation needs $150,000.00 to cover the 2024 calendar year programs and operating expenses including:
1. 400-1000 square feet of office space in Costa Mesa, California, that includes a waiting room and provides a welcoming environment for students, their families, adult trainees, and office staff, as well as plenty of wall space for bookcases holding bulky multi-sensory math and reading materials.
2. Social media pictures and videos to inform those who do not know or understand the reasons why this service is unique.
3. Ads on Spanish-speaking radio stations are also important since one of the teachers, Ms. Dietiker, speaks and teaches Spanish.
4. An office manager familiar with non-profit foundations.
5. Salaries for two teachers/trainers and one office manager.
6. Stipends for qualified adult trainees.
7. Monthly utility expenses and liability insurance premiums.
8. Up-to-date computers and printers.
9. Financial, tax, legal, foundation management, and accounting advice.
10. Travel expenses.
11. Student materials.
12. Office materials.

Orange County, California