Although the school was not officially incorporated until 1982, Lab School of Washington cites its founding date as 1967, when Sally Liberman Smith, faced with her son Gary's learning difficulties in school, began home schooling Gary and eventually started teaching other children faced with similar learning difficulties. At the time, Gary was a first-grader at Beauvoir elementary school who could not read and who struggled with simple math. Beginning with Gary and three other students, and originally as an extension of the Kingsbury Diagnostic Center, a testing, education and remediation facility dealing with learning difficulties and related issues, Smith started her own school to help children with dyslexia, ADHD, and other learning differences. Borrowing ideas from the 19th century philosopher, psychologist, and education reformer John Dewey who championed progressive education, Smith also figured out through themed birthday parties that kids, even those like her son who had significant learning differences, could successfully learn through the arts.