About
The Learning Program offers Monthly Parent and Student Classes, an After School Academy, Adventures Into Independence, Summer Academies, and education-based recreation and social events. The program also provides tutoring and consultations, teacher and paraprofessional education and materials, support in accessing curriculum, and local and regional conferences. Families and professionals can use online programs and online classes, virtual speakers, staff training, and an online store that offers educational resources for students with visual learning strengths, along with online learning communities and social networks.
• Schedule: Face-to-face services are currently on hold pending new learning center space.
• Price: Not specified.
The Learning Program is part of the Down Syndrome Foundation’s work, which has more than 25 years of service and was formed on February 11, 2001. Its mission is to serve people with Down syndrome by developing educational, social and support programs delivered in partnership with individuals, families, professionals and communities. The program includes educational placement support and guidance, conference workshops and presentations to parents and teachers, community awareness presentations, and internship programs with students from local colleges and universities.
The program uses evidence-based teaching strategies and customized educational materials, with a focus on building literacy and math skills and including occupational and speech therapy components. It has been developed in collaboration with educators, researchers, therapists and administrators, and is adapted for in-person, online and classroom applications. It offers turnkey lesson plans with materials and instructor guides, an extensive list of educational resources, a dedicated site for program information, resources, links and videos, and online learning communities and social networks that provide worldwide education support. Programming goals are to improve academic and social outcomes and maximize independence in adulthood, and DSF is described as a leader in the development of educational programming for students with Down syndrome.
Leadership and contributors associated with the program include Dana Halle, Dr. Stacy Taylor from Advance Behavior and Learning, and Dr. Sean Smith from Kansas University. The staff includes developers of face-to-face and online platforms to share educational strategies, resources and activities, and co-founders of the Empowered Learning Community, with over 60 years of combined experience in education for the team launching the Empowered Learning Community. DSF partners with families, educators, researchers, Down syndrome groups, and organizations around the world, has more than eight organizational partners, trains and mentors Learning Program Partners across the United States, and offers partnership opportunities to expand educational services to local families.
Parent and partner feedback includes comments that the online program and webinars provide advice, suggestions, ideas, hope, and encouragement, and that short online sessions have been effective and led to children showing pride when finishing books. One parent reports that The Learning Program has helped with confidence as a parent to teach a child with Down syndrome and has provided materials to use at home. A representative from the Down Syndrome Guild of Greater Kansas City reports that students were eager to learn and work with highly visual materials based on errorless learning strategies, and that graduates showed greater desire to read and work with their books as the program progressed. A teacher from the Montgomery County Down Syndrome Interest Group reports that teaching The Learning Program has been an amazing experience and that presenting sessions includes learning from the topic, the research behind it, and The Learning Program’s history with that topic, which informs work with parents and teachers.
Last updated July 5, 2026.
• Schedule: Face-to-face services are currently on hold pending new learning center space.
• Price: Not specified.
The Learning Program is part of the Down Syndrome Foundation’s work, which has more than 25 years of service and was formed on February 11, 2001. Its mission is to serve people with Down syndrome by developing educational, social and support programs delivered in partnership with individuals, families, professionals and communities. The program includes educational placement support and guidance, conference workshops and presentations to parents and teachers, community awareness presentations, and internship programs with students from local colleges and universities.
The program uses evidence-based teaching strategies and customized educational materials, with a focus on building literacy and math skills and including occupational and speech therapy components. It has been developed in collaboration with educators, researchers, therapists and administrators, and is adapted for in-person, online and classroom applications. It offers turnkey lesson plans with materials and instructor guides, an extensive list of educational resources, a dedicated site for program information, resources, links and videos, and online learning communities and social networks that provide worldwide education support. Programming goals are to improve academic and social outcomes and maximize independence in adulthood, and DSF is described as a leader in the development of educational programming for students with Down syndrome.
Leadership and contributors associated with the program include Dana Halle, Dr. Stacy Taylor from Advance Behavior and Learning, and Dr. Sean Smith from Kansas University. The staff includes developers of face-to-face and online platforms to share educational strategies, resources and activities, and co-founders of the Empowered Learning Community, with over 60 years of combined experience in education for the team launching the Empowered Learning Community. DSF partners with families, educators, researchers, Down syndrome groups, and organizations around the world, has more than eight organizational partners, trains and mentors Learning Program Partners across the United States, and offers partnership opportunities to expand educational services to local families.
Parent and partner feedback includes comments that the online program and webinars provide advice, suggestions, ideas, hope, and encouragement, and that short online sessions have been effective and led to children showing pride when finishing books. One parent reports that The Learning Program has helped with confidence as a parent to teach a child with Down syndrome and has provided materials to use at home. A representative from the Down Syndrome Guild of Greater Kansas City reports that students were eager to learn and work with highly visual materials based on errorless learning strategies, and that graduates showed greater desire to read and work with their books as the program progressed. A teacher from the Montgomery County Down Syndrome Interest Group reports that teaching The Learning Program has been an amazing experience and that presenting sessions includes learning from the topic, the research behind it, and The Learning Program’s history with that topic, which informs work with parents and teachers.
Last updated July 5, 2026.
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