Culture
Exploring Strengths-Based Education With OHIO’s Dr. Sami Kahn
By: Emily Votaw
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When Dr. Sami Kahn’s daughter was only three years old, she was diagnosed with autism. At the time, Kahn found that many of those who she thought would be empowering her daughter through education were seemingly looking into some type of crystal ball — predicting a future of hardship and insurmountable barriers for her child.
As she personally journeyed through finding suitable educational settings for her daughter, Kahn also began to work as an advocate for economically disadvantaged families with children diagnosed with various “learning disabilities.” These experiences made Kahn a believer in the importance of strengths-based education, something that is explored in detail in Towards Inclusion of All Learners through Science Teacher Education, a volume that Kahn co-authored alongside fellow contemporary education experts Michele Koomen, Christopher L. Atchison, and Tiffany A. Wild.
WOUB speaks with Kahn about the importance of educating science teachers in how to properly service the children they are teaching, how so-called “learning disabilities” can actually be utilized as learning strengths, and her personal journey of determination and hope in navigating the American education system with her daughter in the interview embedded above.