It may look like a typical art class, but the papier-mâché animals drying on the bench have a greater purpose.

Students at the Bermuda Lab School are studying the Galapagos. Teachers are using Darwin’s journey on the Beagle to bring to life history, measurements, data and time — challenging skills for those with learning differences.

This is the second year of the summer camp, instigated by veterinarian Roberta Alvarez.

Her daughter, Olivia, was six when doctors diagnosed she had dyslexia and ADHD. She flourished at the Lab School in Washington DC.

“The family had to split up but it was the best thing ever,” said Ms Alvarez, who made the move with her daughter four years ago. “Any school she would have attended, she would have been made to feel stupid and frustrated, but this was all minimised.”

The school offers regular lectures put on by scientists at the cutting edge of ADHD research.

“For me, everything is a population of pigs. You’re bacon. It’s specific genetic selection that gives certain meat quality. I see all their data, I see all their information and I realise both ADHD and dyslexia are hereditary.

“This is not a parenting problem, this is not a race problem. These are learning differences and we can do something about it. Something positive.”

The four-week camp, which is held at Somersfield Academy, accepted 32 children this year. Each met the criteria of the camp — dyslexia, ADHD and “language-based learning differences”.

“Since one of our core classes is reading it means that kids who struggle with reading are our main focus,” Ms Alvarez told Lifestyle.

Many of the pioneering academy’s offshoots have been “parent driven”. Ms Alvarez is confident that the annual camps will mean a permanent programme will one day exist here, a proper school “where we can meet their needs and everyone will be happier”.

She believes the LAB School’s 50-year history is testament that the system works but a good education should not be limited to those who can afford it. Her hope is once the Bermuda school is up and running, it will soon be able to subsidise students in need.

“We have given financial aid to 30 per cent of our children and we have one child who is completely government funded,” she said.

She commended Bermuda’s Reading Clinic for being “a huge part of the solution”.

“There is zero correlation between spelling and intellect, so when you see someone who writes badly, you shouldn’t think he is stupid,” Ms Alvarez said.

“You have orthopaedic surgeons that can’t write; there’s nothing wrong with their intellect. In Bermuda we have to highlight this more and more.

“These kids don’t know what to ask for. The parents don’t know what to ask for either. They think it’s par for the course and nothing else can be done. There’s tremendous solution.”

Of the camp’s eight teachers, Robin Miller and Tonya Smith, trained at the LAB School in Washington DC. Another instructor, artist Louisa Bermingham, fits in perfectly with the Lab School of Washington’s focus on STEAM education.

“Kids are taught the industrial revolution,” Ms Alvarez said. “They take on the personas of [chemist Irénée] du Pont and [Ford Motor Company founder Henry] Ford. They build telegraphs from one end of the school to the other. They learn Morse code. They break it down. They learn.

“What more could you possibly want for your kid?”

The unorthodox system prepares students for the same standardised exams that the average child faces.

“This is not some dumbed-down version of anything. This is high learning. These kids all go to college. This is how to get them to college,’ she said.

Lab advocates avoid the word disability.

“It’s just a different ability. Kids learn in different ways. Disability has a negative connotation and that’s not necessary.

“Most of them have a tremendous future and that label doesn’t do them any justice at all.”

Physical education is a must. Occupation therapist Jill Davidson gets the camp kids moving daily.

“People have this idea that if a child is not sitting still, they’re not paying attention. A lot of these kids just can’t,” Ms Alvarez said.

“Children who have ADHD and dyslexia need to exercise everyday.

“When the physical body is tired you have a good night’s sleep, which makes learning the next day possible.”

In her own daughter she has seen changes. “She was very shy and now she’s not.

“She runs. That’s her thing. She wouldn’t be running on these teams and getting out in front of hundreds of people if she hadn’t gone to this school. It gives her courage.

“The school bolsters them to never give up.”

Learn more at www.bermudalabschool.org