I am a Specialist in the Assessment of Intellectual Functioning (S.A.I.F.) and Learning Disabilities Specialist, certified in New Hampshire. I am also certified in General Special Education and Elementary Education.

I earned my Bachelor of Arts in Elementary and Special Education at Boston College and my Master of Education in Learning Disabilities at Rivier College in 1988. In addition to my Master's Degree, my advanced coursework for certification as a Specialist in the Assessment of Intellectual Functioning was completed at Rivier College in 1990.

I have extensive experience working with children, teachers and parents in the field of special education. I was a S.A.I.F. and Learning Specialist for the Hudson, NH School District for nine years. I worked for the Litchfield School District as the Special Education Coordinator, working with families and students from preschool through high school. I have also taught children in both general education classrooms and in a resource room setting.

As a college instructor, I taught undergraduate and graduate courses at Rivier College in Nashua, NH and at Notre Dame College in Manchester, NH. In addition, I have shared my knowledge and educational techniques by presenting teacher training seminars in Hudson, Derry, Pembroke, Manchester, NH and Plymouth, MA.

I have specialized training in the Orton-Gillingham based reading instructional techniques of Project Read and Wilson Reading. Intensive study of learning strategies developed by Howard Gardner and Mel Levine are incorporated into my instruction.

I provide tutoring and coaching to children and adolescents, as well as consultation to their families. I specialize in working with students with Attention Deficit Disorder, Asperger's Syndrome, Nonverbal Learning Disability as well as other learning differences.

Organizational/Study Skills Coaching:

Direct services will assess and teach your child skills in the following four areas:

Organization at School -- A place for notes and handouts, a system for transporting material between home and school, storage for materials not being used (binder/file, backpack and locker);

Organization at Home -- A place to do homework, a location for tools to complete work, and storage for work in progress or completed;

Time Management -- Strategies to learn how to plan, prioritize, and manage time for homework completion and long term assignments;

Study Skills for Test Taking -- Strategies for matching the type of information to learn to a certain study format and alternatives to practice information to aid in retention.

The focus of coaching will be to allow your child to locate what he/she needs quickly, so that more time can be spent on learning new academic information. Organizational systems are set up to meet individual children's needs and help to improve school success, so each organizational system may look different for each child.

Essential organizational/study skills coaching services begin with an one-hour meeting in your home or in the office. The meetings are scheduled at two-week intervals, with an email communication between week one and week two. Both you, the parent, and your child must attend all sessions so that a consistent message is communicated and skills can be continued between sessions. Other children (siblings and/or friends) can not be present during the consultation session due to distractibility.

The first session will focus on determining the organizational and study skills that your child currently has and what he/she needs to learn. The current notebook, folder or file system that your child uses needs to be available for review. A current report card and/or teacher's comments is also helpful to determine areas of strengths and weaknesses. Finally, your child will create a skills contract to address one goal for developing organizational skills during the following sessions.

After the first session, and based upon the assessment of your child's skills, you can consider the need for additional coaching services to address the skills that your child needs to learn. The number of sessions will be a mutual agreement between the parent and coach.

Academic Tutoring:

Academic tutoring services are provided during 70 minute sessions once per week in your home or at the office. During the first session your child's skills will be informally assessed and a plan will be developed. You will receive an email of your child's plan within a week of the first session.

After the first session, and based upon the assessment of your child's skills, you can consider the need for additional tutoring sessions to address the skills that your child needs to learn. The number of sessions will be a mutual agreement between the parent and tutor.

Tutoring can be tailored to meet your child¡¦s individual needs in the areas of:

** Reading comprehension using Project Read strategies
** Math calculation and/or problem solving strategies
** Written language skills and strategies using Project Read-Written Expression strand
** Critical thinking skills related to academics

You, the parent, will need to be available during the session so that strategies may be shared. Other children (siblings and/or friends) cannot be present or need to be otherwise occupied during the tutoring sessions due to distractibility.

Either individual or small group sessions may be arranged based on the age level and skills needed by your child.

Children may receive a combination of study skills and academic skills within one session, based on their individual needs.