Dr. Dirlam studied at Northwestern University (B.A, psychology) and McMaster University (M.A. and Ph. D., physiological, developmental and mathematical models of perception). His early work aimed to create a universal behavioral coding system. The first decade focused on applying the mathematics of organization to create efficient and powerful organizing systems. Next, the organizing systems were used to study drawing and writing development, the latter resulting in New York's pioneering natural language writing competency test-the origin of assessment rubrics now used around the world. 德拉姆，西北大学心理学学士、麦克马斯特大学硕博连读，生理学，知觉的的发育与数学模型）。早期工作专注于建立一种普遍的行为编码系统。第一个十年聚焦创造高效率和强大的组织系统的数学应用。接下来，组织系统被用来学习绘画和书写发展，后者成为纽约的开拓自然语言写作能力测试评估指标的起源。现在在世界各地使用。