Smart Kids With LD

Publisher

Jane B. Ross, MS is the founder and Executive Director of Smart Kids with Learning Disabilities, a former publishing executive, and the parent of a young adult with learning disabilities.

Editor

Louise Ackerman, MPH., CHES is a former publishing executive, currently working as a community organizer and Public Health adjunct professor. She is the parent of a child with LD.

Membership Development Manager

Alysa Kabakow is a former direct-marketing executive and the parent of a child with learning disabilities.

Contributing Editors

Eve Kessler, Esq.is president and co-founder of SPED*NET Wilton (CT) and a former Chair of the Connecticut Council on Developmental Disabilities. She works as a public defender for The Legal Aid Society in N.Y.C., where she serves as a criminal appellate attorney, representing many clients with LD and special needs.

Sheryl Knapp, A/AOGPE  is the founder and President of Literacy Advocates, providing literacy-related consulting services for students with learning disabilities. She has Associate Level certification with the Academy of Orton-Gillingham Practitioners and Educators.

Marcia Rubinstien, MA, CEP is an educational consultant providing placement services for students from preschool through graduate school, who specializes in placing students with learning disabilities and other learning differences. She is the founder of the NLDA (Nonverbal Learning Disorders Association) and the author of Raising NLD Superstars.

Contributors

Michael Alfano, Ph.D. is a member of the Graduate Faculty in Educational Psychology at the University of Connecticut, Director of its Teacher Certification Program, and an evaluator in private practice.

Wendy Anderson-Brachfeld, MA is a former scientist who went back to school to earn a degree in Special Education in order to better advocate for her own child. Her thesis focused on social skill interventions.

Susan Baum, Ph.D. is co-director of the International Center for Talent Development, Director of Professional Development at Bridges Academy, and academic coordinator for SUNY Buffalo State College Masters Program for International Educators. She is the past president and founder of the Association for the Education of Gifted Underachieving Students (AEGUS). Her books include To Be Gifted and Learning Disabled: Strategies for Helping Bright Students with LD, ADHD, and More, and Multiple Intelligences in the Elementary Classroom: A Teacher’s Toolkit.

Judi Bernstein is a founding member of Smart Kids with Learning Disabilities’ Parent Advisory Board, and the mother of a young adult with learning and attention issues.

Miriam Cherkes-Julkowski, Ph.D. is an educational evaluator and consultant with expertise in ADHD, learning disabilities, giftedness, autism and social adjustment, a former Professor of Educational Psychology at the University of Connecticut, and the author of several books including The Dysfunctionality of Executive Functions and Rethinking Attention Deficit Disorders.

Candace Cortiella is the Director of the Advocacy Institute, a non-profit organization dedicated to the development of products and services to improve the lives of people with disabilities, particularly learning disabilities. She provides training and advocacy services for families of students with disabilities, and has worked as a government affairs associate for the National Center for Learning Disabilities, and as the director of an award-winning website.

Peg Dawson, Ed.D. is a psychologist at the Center for Learning and Attention Disorders in Portsmouth, NH; the co-author of several books on ADHD and executive skills, including Smart But Scattered: The Revolutionary Executive Skills Approach to Helping Kids Reach Their Potential; and winner of the 2006 Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Association of School Psychologists.

Marcia Eckerd, Ph.D. is a licensed psychologist and evaluator with particular expertise in nonverbal learning disabilities, Asperger syndrome and executive function challenges. She is a partner in Associates for Children and Families, P.C. in Norwalk, CT.

Jo Ann Freiberg, Ph.D. is an educational consultant with the Connecticut State Depart of Education and a member of Connecticut’s Task Force on Bullying.

Margie Gillis, Ed.D. is a language, reading and reading disability expert, a Senior Scientist at the Haskins Laboratories in New Haven, CT and President of LiteracyHow, training teachers to help all children learn to read. She is President of the Board of Directors, and a co-founder of Smart Kids with Learning Disabilities.

Katherine Godfrey is a former psychology teacher who has worked as a tutor and life coach for students with learning disabilities and ADHD.

Judy Grossman, DrPH, OTR is a family therapist in private practice and Associate Director of the Center for the Developing Child and Family at the Ackerman Institute for the Family in New York City. She is also an occupational therapy and public health educator and consultant to community agencies.

Jill Harkavy-Friedman, Ph.D. is on the faculty of the Department of Psychiatry at Columbia University and a Research Scientist at the New York State Psychiatric Institute. She is a clinical psychologist in private practice in New York City.

Shelley Lacey-Castelot, ATACP, M.S. is the Director of Literacy Solutions in Oxford, CT, providing diagnostic educational evaluations, consultation and instruction, and a widely-recognized expert in the evaluation and use of assistive technology for students with learning disabilities and attention disorders.

Judith Lindenberger is head of The Lindenberger Group in Titusville, New Jersey specializing in human resources training and management.

Ellen Littman, Ph.D. is a clinical psychologist in Mount Kisco, New York who works with children and adults with ADHD. She is co-author of Understanding Girls with ADHD.

Devon MacEachron, Ph.D. is the co-founder and Director of Psychoeducational Assessment at the CT Center for Exceptional Learners, LLC.

Kenneth H. Magrath, Ph.D., FACAPP is a licensed clinical psychologist who has served on the faculties of the Cornell University College of Medicine and New York Medical College, and consulted with numerous public and private schools. He works with children, adolescents and adults to identify learning strengths as well as challenges.

Noreen J. O’Mahoney, SDA, CSW is the founder and Director of Collaborative Advocacy Associates, providing comprehensive education consulting and advocacy services in support of children with special learning needs.

Ellen Parlapiano is an award-winning author, speaker and journalist who writes frequently for national women’s magazines and parenting publications. She is also the co-founder of MompreneursOnline.com.

Ken Pugh, Ph.D. is the President and Director of Research at the Haskins Laboratories in New Haven, a research institute focusing on the science of the spoken and written word, and a member of the faculty at the Yale University School of Medicine.

Donna A. Chauvin Quallen, M.Ed, CAS is a consultant, general and special educator and former educational and special services administrator. She has experience in educational and special educational testing and psychological assessments.

Lisa Rappaport, Ph.D. is a licensed psychologist providing psychodiagnostic evaluations, counseling, and interventions for children with learning disabilities and psychiatric disorders in New York City. She is an Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine.

Heidi Rosenholtz is a professional coach and organizer whose company, SmartSPACE at smartspacecoaching.com is dedicated to promoting strategies for decision-making, time management, project planning and workspace design.

Juliette Weiland heads her own public relations and marketing communications company in Waxhaw, North Carolina. She has won APEX and MarCom Awards for her profiles in the Smart Kids with Learning Disabilities newsletter.

Timothy Wilens, MD is an Associate Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and Director of Adolescent Substance Abuse Services at Massachusetts General Hospital, who has published widely on child and adolescent psychiatric issues.

Pete and Pam Wright are prominent national advocates for children with disabilities, creators of the Wrightslaw special education website and newsletter at www.wrightslaw.com, as well as the authors of several major books concerning special education law.