IRVINE : Award Given Head of Mardan Center

David A. Eisenman has been teaching students with learning disabilities and emotional problems in Orange County for 31 years.

But he says it’s the lessons his students teach him that make the job so rewarding.

“The kids are the best teachers,” said the 57-year-old Costa Mesa resident. “They are always showing us new things. There is a tremendous satisfaction in working with them.”

Eisenman recently received the 1993 Award of Merit from the Learning Disabilities Assn. of California.

The group honored Eisenman as an education pioneer who in 1962 opened one of the county’s first private schools specifically designed for youths with learning or emotional troubles.

The Mardan Center in Irvine now has an enrollment of 110 students and a staff of 45 people, including 23 teachers. It draws students from throughout Southern California, and some of its alumni have gone on to prestigious universities.

Parents and public school officials turn to the Mardan Center for help with children who are having trouble succeeding in the normal school environment, Eisenman said.

Some of the students have such learning disabilities as dyslexia or attention deficit disorder. Others are depressed or have trouble dealing with other children.

“These kids are not making it in a normal setting because they have special problems,” Eisenman said. “These are mostly children with average to above average abilities who cannot maintain themselves in a public school atmosphere.”

The Mardan Center offers classes for preschoolers through high school students. Class sizes are small, most with fewer than 12 students per teacher. In addition to personalized instruction, the school offers a variety of counseling services for students.

“We try to offer a support system,” Eisenman said.

Tuition is $20,000 a year, though many students receive substantial discounts based on their financial need.

Eisenman earned a master’s degree in educational psychology at USC and worked as a teacher and school psychologist for the Los Angeles Unified School District before opening his own school in a small Costa Mesa medical suite in 1962.

At the time, Orange County offered little in the way of help for students with learning disabilities, he said.

“Some families drove up to Los Angeles a few times a week for clinical help because Orange County had nothing to offer,” Eisenman said. “It was too far for some of them to drive.”

From its start with just two students, Mardan Center has grown over the last 31 years. All the while, Eisenman has remained as executive director.

“This is not a repetitive business,” he said. “It’s great to know that every day you will learn something new.”