Leon Le is a typical 17-year-old San Jose high school student who plays video games — except he founded an initiative called FoldEDU that teaches origami in part to neurodivergent children, published a picture book called Emma and the Journey of the Paper Crane, and partnered with the Bolivian Origami Society.
Wearing a white and teal pleated shirt reminiscent of origami folds, Le explained how the thousands-year-old paper-folding craft also helped him.
“I use that moment when I’m folding origami to reflect on the day,” said Le, referring to his nightly practice. “I think it’s a moment of slowing down, calm and something predictable.”
Le had been folding origami for years when the connection between origami and neurodiversity came to him after a 10th grade high school peer confided that she had been diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.
Le then came across a 2020 science journal article titled “Origami and Children With Autism: A Review Article.”
The author of the paper found that origami folding improved the concentration of children with autism and recommended including origami education in schools for neurodivergent children.
Le said he is on the youth leadership committee of the Pacific Autism Center for Education, a Santa Clara-based nonprofit that provides specialized education and support for children with autism and other developmental disabilities. Le donated copies of his book to the center.
Le also taught origami classes at Friends of Children with Special Needs, a Fremont-based nonprofit that provides education and support services for children with developmental disabilities. Le planned to teach a weekly origami class there this summer.
Le found that folding origami not only improved the focus of the children he taught but also improved their fine motor skills, attention to detail and sense of autonomy after completing a project.
One of the things Le learned from teaching was to use very large pieces of origami paper when tutoring beginners to avoid the students’ frustration when folding small creases. Le also learned that individualized instruction was more effective than a lecture at the podium.
Equality is everyone gets the same thing. Equity is everyone gets what they need. But there’s a higher level than that called universal design.
Leon Le, FoldEDU founder
Le created a video showing himself folding origami. He found that watching the video while the student folded with Le was a winning combination.
Le said he learned the concept of universal design while attending a Stanford University summer program called the Stanford Neurodiversity Project, an initiative that, among other objectives, introduces high school students to neurodiversity research.
Universal design was coined by American architect Ronald Mace in 1985 as the design of products and environments “usable by all people, to the greatest extent possible, without the need for adaptation or specialized design.”
“Equality is everyone gets the same thing. Equity is everyone gets what they need,” Le said. “But there’s a higher level than that called universal design.”
Le used the example of a water fountain to explain universal design. Rather than create fountains with different heights, he said that designing one fountain that tilted upward and downward could accommodate a range of people, including people with physical disabilities.
Le said that the use of large paper to fold origami and the use of multi-angle instructional videos were two examples of universal design that could serve not only children with developmental disabilities but all children.
Le was excited to incorporate universal design concepts into his origami teaching. In the meantime, he said he was working on a project with the Rwanda Ministry of Education to incorporate origami into its science, technology, engineering and mathematics program.
