Location: New Ulm, Texas
Education: Ph.D., CALT, SLDS
Years Experience Teaching: 28
Years Experience In Dyslexia: 20
Teaching Experience
The first half of my teaching career was in special education, where I quickly realized I needed certification in dyslexia instruction in order to really help the majority of students under my care. After my training, the change in my students’ progress in reading was remarkable and I became passionate about getting the word out to special education teachers and others who were in any way involved in the teaching of reading. After my Ph.D. was complete I worked for 13 years at Neuhaus Education Center in Houston, a non-profit that offers professional development for reading teachers and training in dyslexia specialization. There I helped develop and review our class programs and materials, did classroom instruction, helped develop an online dyslexia specialist certification program, and helped with university partnership for the advancement of reading instruction. Now I’m retired, and there is nothing I’d rather do than use my skills to help those who want to learn to read. I have loved working with teachers, but I love seeing young faces again!
Professional Affiliations
International Dyslexia Association
Academic Language Therapy Association
Programs Trained In
Basic Language Skills
Age Range You Feel Most Comfortable With:
Kindergarten-Adult
Why did you decide to become a CALT?
I first sought dyslexia training to help meet the needs of my special education students, but soon became so interested in making it my career that I continued with my certification and my education in reading.
Favorite moment working with dyslexic students?
I’ve had many favorite moments, but for me the magic moment is watching the epiphany on the faces of learners who finish reading something they never thought they could.
Your goal when working with kids with dyslexia?
The ultimate goal for my students is to get to the point where enough changes have happened in their brains that they begin to demonstrate characteristics of good readers – decoding and understanding are almost simultaneous, and both come together to make reading fluent, expressive, and pleasurable. At the beginning though, my goal is to make sure that my students love themselves enough and trust me enough to make mistakes, try again, and keep trying so they can build one skill upon another and reach the point where they know they can do it!
Your teaching style, personality?
Relationship with my students is the key to success for both of us. Without that, I don’t think they could learn, and I wouldn’t have any fun! I’m organized and prepared for lessons so that I can keep students moving to their capacity, but during the lesson, I am entirely directed by their needs at the time. In this online teaching situation, I really enjoy getting to know the whole family, because we’re all working toward the same goal.
Any family details?
My husband of 48 years and I are retired and live in the country, where we enjoy gardening, playing with our dog Watterson, visiting with friends and family, and exploring our interests. We travel quite a bit too. We have three children, all grown, and three beautiful, rambunctious, and fascinating grandchildren.
Any extra anecdotal info you want to add?
I’ll just add my own motto – the one I have lived by my whole teaching career: Everyone, EVERYONE, can learn.
