Merle Langbord Levine has been working as an educator since 1959. But it wasn’t until the late ’60s that she entered the field of special education — and she hasn’t left the field since then. In 1995, she opened the Merle L. Levine Academy in North York. The school specializes in teaching children with learning disabilities and attention deficit disorder.
“There’s no magic,” says Levine of her methods. “It’s just really delving in and looking at what the child needs and breaking it down.
She credits a dedicated staff for the school’s success. “I’ve got staff that have been with me 26 years,” she says. “They love it. They can go to the boards. They could be principals by now, some of them … but they want to stay in this environment.”
She also funded the Langbord Family Scholarship, a bursary that makes it easier for children with exceptionalities to attend specialized schools such as her own. She regularly organizes educational events related to learning disabilities, including an upcoming seminar with Rick Lavoie on helping children with learning disabilities find social success.
The seminar is scheduled for Feb. 1 at the Toronto Reference Library.
