About Our Authors

Alana Trisler has taught kindergarten, first grade, and second grade, and has served as a speech therapist and as a learning specialist. These experiences, along with those of her colleague, Patrice Cardiel, have been the basis for the creation of the phenomenally successful "Words I Use" family of books. Alana lives and teaches in the Tulsa, OK area.

Products by Alana Trisler:

• Words I Use When I Write
• Writing Journals

Alexandra Bigelow has been an Orton-Gillingham-trained reading therapist at the Brimmer and May School (Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts) for 8 years. She tutors one on one, teaches a first and second grade language arts class, and serves as a resource for the first, second, and third grade teachers in reading, writing, and spelling.

Products by Alexandra S. Bigelow:

• Just Write

Ann Staman has taught reading, spelling, writing, math, and study skills on both the elementary and secondary levels. Currently a reading specialist in Belchertown, Massachusetts, she is a graduate of Bryn Mawr College with a degree in English. Ms. Staman has an M.Ed. in Reading and a C.A.G.S. in Special Education.

Products by Ann L. Staman:

• Clues to Meaning
• Handprints
• Starting Comprehension

Barbara Makar (1937-1992) taught kindergarten, first grade, and fourth grade. An educational consultant with a master’s degree in reading and English, she traveled all over the United States, first for J. B. Lippincott & Co., and then for Educators Publishing Service. For many years she taught remedial reading in Bradenton, Florida.

Products by Barbara W. Makar:

• Primary Phonics®

Carol Einstein, who received an M.A. and M.Ed. from Columbia University in New York City, has wide experience as an educator in both public and private schools. She has taught second graders, has worked as a reading specialist for grades 1–7, and is now an educational therapist. Her books include Reading for Content for grades 3–6, Claims to Fame for grades 2–5, Einstein's Who, What, and Where for grades 4–7, and a book for teachers titled Be Your Own Reading Specialist.

Products by Carol Einstein:

• Claims to Fame®
• Einstein`s Who, What, and Where
• Reading for Content

Diana Hanbury King’s distinguished career includes significant service to students with specific learning disabilities. Trained in dyslexia and Orton-Gillingham methods by preeminent medical and educational scholars, King has served on the faculty at Sidwell Friends School and the Potomac School, and is the founder of the Kildonan School and Dunnebeck Camp for dyslexic students. She now writes and lectures, trains teachers, and tutors students in reading.

Products by Diana Hanbury King:

• Cursive Writing Skills 2nd Edition
• Keyboarding Skills 2nd Edition
• Writing Skills 2nd Edition

Dianne Tucker-LaPlount is a teacher, reading specialist, and educational therapist with over 25 years of experience in reading, writing, and specific language disabilities. Trained in the Slingerland method, she has wide experience teaching students with learning differences and ELL students. She is coauthor with Louise Skinner of Words—Writing, Reading, and Spelling (Prentice Hall) and is the author of Phonetic Fiction, a series of beginning readers for adults (Red Van Publishers).

Products by Dianne Tucker-LaPlount:

• The Paragraph Book

Dorothy Grant Hennings is Distinguished Professor Emeritus, Kean University in New Jersey. She received her undergraduate degree from Barnard College; her masters degree from the University of Virginia; and her doctorate from Teachers College, Columbia University. Dr. Hennings also taught in the public schools of Rutherford and Fair Lawn, New Jersey. She is the author of many books, including Communication in Action: Teaching Literature-based Language Arts and Reading with Meaning: Strategies for College Reading. In 1992, Dr. Hennings was the recipient of the International Reading Association’s Outstanding Educator in Reading Award. In 1993, she received the Distinguished Service Award from the New Jersey Reading Association.

Products by Dorothy Grant Hennings:

• Words Are Wonderful

Eileen Perlman, M.S. began her career as a classroom teacher and reading specialist and is currently Clinical Director of the Churchill Reading Initiative, in Manhattan. For over thirty years, she was a learning disabilities specialist for the White Plains Public Schools. In addition to her private practice involving diagnosis and remediation, Ms. Perlman is a highly regarded lecturer, teacher trainer and educational consultant.

Products by Eileen Perlman:

• Merrill Student Readers
• Preventing Academic Failure (PAF)
• Preventing Academic Failure (PAF) Handwriting Program

Elsie Wilmerding has a B.A. degree in English and a Language Therapist Certificate based on the Orton-Gillingham method. She has taught in middle schools in the Boston area at the Fenn School, Park School, and Brimmer and May, and has tutored for over 15 years. Recently, she has concentrated on reading, writing, and spelling in elementary grades.

Products by Elsie S. Wilmerding:

• Just Write

Frances Bloom received her B.S. in education from Skidmore College. She served as a consultant to the Ossining Public Schools in Ossining, New York. She has also done private tutoring for dyslexic children. In addition to Recipe for Reading, Bloom is also the primary author for Recipe for Spelling, a comprehensive program with 450 varied learning activities designed to sharpen spelling, language arts, and thinking skills. She is the co-author of The Alphabet Series.

Products by Frances Bloom:

• Recipe for Reading

Gregory Hurray is the English Coordinator for grades K–8 in Newton, Massachusetts. His work as an educator has focused on teaching writing and spelling. As a writing specialist, he developed curriculum, trained teachers, and worked with students in fifteen elementary and two junior high schools. For many years he has worked closely with teachers to develop sound approaches to spelling instruction in their classrooms.

Products by Gregory Hurray:

• A Spelling Dictionary for Writers

Jane Ervin works in Washington, D.C., with children with reading and learning difficulties, advises parents on educational concerns, lectures, and gives teacher trainings. Dr. Ervin has written more than 20 books for students, teachers, and parents; her workbooks have sold over 5 million copies. She received her Ed.D and postdoctoral diploma from UCLA.

Products by Jane Ervin:

• Reading Comprehension in Varied Subject Matter
• Right into Reading

Joanna Kennedy is a learning specialist with 25 years of teaching experience in grades K–9. She serves as a tutor for children and adults with language-based learning differences and has taught in both public and independent schools, including Ashland Junior High School in Ashland, MA, The Advent Day School in Boston, the Apple Orchard School and Park School in Brookline, MA, and the College Readiness Program in East Harlem, NY. A graduate of Connecticut College with a B.A. in French, she has an M.A.T. from Harvard University and is certified for both elementary education and the teaching of reading. Trained as an Orton-Gillingham practitioner, she also holds certification from the Massachusetts General Hospital program of therapy for specific reading disabilities. Joanna has focused her teaching and writing on innovative ways of helping students understand the structure of the English language for increased skill in reading, spelling, and writing.

Products by Joanna Kennedy:

John F. Savage, series author, is a Professor Emeritus at the Lynch School of Education, Boston College, where he taught for 33 years. Dr. Savage served as a Coordinator of the Graduate Reading/Literacy program there. He has also taught at Boston University and in Canada and Spain, and has guest-lectured at colleges and universities. Dr. Savage began his career as a classroom teacher, and throughout his tenure has returned to classroom teaching in order to better understand today's schools-and because he loves working with young learners. Dr. Savage has written several professional books, including Sound it Out: Phonics in a Comprehensive Reading Program, Third Edition (McGraw-Hill, 2006); For the Love of Literature: Children and Books in the Elementary Years (McGraw-Hill, 2000); and Teaching Reading and Writing: Combining Skills, Strategies, and Literature (McGraw-Hill, 1998). In addition, he has written many professional articles and is a popular speaker at local, regional, and national conferences. He has presented at several recent national conferences, including the International Reading Association (IRA), International Dyslexia Association (IDA), National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE), and Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD). Dr. Savage received his BA in English at Iona College and his MEd and EdD in Education from Boston University. He was a Senior Fulbright Scholar in Australia, as well as a People-to-People Delegation Leader to the People's Republic of China, India, and Cuba.

Products by John Savage:

• EPS Phonics PLUS®

Karen Smith studied at Houghton College and earned her master’s at the State University of New York at New Paltz. She has taught grades K–6 and served as a reading specialist for K–12 in public and private settings. She has instructed the learning-disabled, elementary, and graduate students, and supervised student teachers. Currently, she teaches her three children at home and leads a Writer’s Workshop for other homeschooled children.

Products by Karen L. Smith:

Katherine Scraper has a B.A. in Elementary Education from Wichita State University and an M.Ed. from Southwestern College. She has taught first grade, fourth grade, and Reading Recovery, and is currently the “Success For All” facilitator at Frances Willard Elementary School in Arkansas City, KS. Katherine has given literacy presentations at the local, regional, and national level, and her publications include over twenty books, stories, and articles for various educational publishers.

Products by Katherine Scraper:

Kenneth Hodkinson has taught English to elementary, junior high, and high school students in the United States, Canada, and England. A playwright who studied at the Yale School of Drama, Mr. Hodkinson has had several plays performed, and is also a poet and an inventor of games. His puzzles have appeared in newspapers and books, and he gives workshops on vocabulary development to teachers, students, and administrators.

Products by Kenneth Hodkinson:

• Wordly Wise 3000® 3rd Edition
• Wordly Wise®

Kristin A. Johnson, M.A., is a Consulting Teacher/Learning Specialist in Vermont. She has worked with both children and adults for 30 years, specializing in reading difficulties. Kristin works part time with the public schools, and as director of Mega-Learning Systems she offers private sessions in educational kinesiology (Brain Gym) and workshops/trainings on her reading and brain integration methodologies. She is also a consultant for the Vermont Strategic Reading Initiative.

Products by Kristin Johnson:

Lee Mountain is a professor of Curriculum and Instruction at the University of Houston. She received her B.A. degree from George Washington University and her Ed.D. from Penn State University. She is the author of Math Connections, Grades 1-3; Early 3 Rs: How to Lead Beginners into Reading, Writing, and Arithmetic; Heritage Supplementary Readers, Grades 1-8; and Strategies for Guiding Content Reading. She is the recipient of several honors and awards including the University of Houston Teaching Excellence Award (2003), and the Freedoms Foundation Award (2000). Lee Mountain is a former public school teacher and reading specialist. Her articles have appeared in the English Journal, The Reading Teacher, and the Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy.

Products by Lee Mountain:

• Vocabulary from Classical Roots®

Dr. Mel Levine is a Professor of Pediatrics at the University of North Carolina Medical School in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Dr. Levine is also the co-founder of All Kinds of Minds, a non-profit institute for the study of differences in learning, with financier Charles R. Schwab.

Over the past thirty years, Dr. Levine has pioneered programs for the evaluation of children and young adults with learning, development, and/or behavioral problems. In 1995, Dr. Levine received the C. Anderson Aldrich Award for outstanding contribution to the field of child development. In 2005, he was named the most admired person in education by Scholastic Press. Dr. Levine graduated summa cum laude from Brown University and was a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford in England. He later graduated from Harvard Medical School and completed his pediatric training at The Children's Hospital in Boston. Dr. Levine served for fourteen years as Chief of the Division of Ambulatory Pediatrics at The Children's Hospital and was an Associate Professor of Pediatrics at The Harvard Medical School before moving to North Carolina. Dr. Levine served as Director of the University of North Carolina’s Clinical Center for the Study of Development and Learning for 21 years. Dr. Levine has appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show and the Today show, and was featured in a series on learning differences for public television. Dr. Levine's groundbreaking framework for understanding why children struggle in school provides a straightforward, practical system for recognizing variations in the way children learn without labeling them and uses their strengths to help them become more successful students. Properly executed, this model can change lives by radically improving prospects for success in and out of school.

Products by Melvin D. Levine, M.D., F.A.A.P.:

• All Kinds of Minds
• Developmental Variation and Learning Disorders
• Jarvis Clutch - Social Spy
• Keeping A Head in School
• Neurodevelopmental Examinations (PEET, PEER, PEEX 2, PEERAMID 2)
• STRANDS
• The ANSER System
• The Mind That`s Mine

Nancy Flowers taught English to college-bound students for more than twenty years at Castilleja School in Palo Alto, California. She has served as a consultant to the Educational Testing Service and as a reader for the Advanced Placement Examinations in English. She is the author of two books: Uprooted: Refugees and the United States and Our Human Rights: A Manual of Women’s Human Rights Education, and an editor of Prose Style.

Products by Nancy Flowers:

• Vocabulary from Classical Roots®

An experienced teacher, tutor, and educational consultant, Nancy Hall has degrees from Middlebury College and Lesley College as well as Language Therapist Certification from Children’s Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts. Her work has focused on both teaching and assessment, with a specialty in reading, writing, and spelling. She operates an independent testing service to evaluate private and public school students experiencing learning problems.

Products by Nancy M. Hall:

• Beyond The Code
• Explode The Code®
• Spellwell

Norma Fifer’s teaching career includes six years as a college instructor and thirty years as a high school English teacher. She has been head of the English Department at Crystal Springs Uplands School in Hillsborough, California, where she is now a teacher consultant. She has served as a reader of Advanced Placement Examinations for the Educational Testing Service, and as a teacher consultant with the Bay Area Writing Project at the University of California in Berkeley, California.

Products by Norma Fifer:

• Vocabulary from Classical Roots®

Series consultant and author of the Red Rocket reading program, Pam Holden has more than 30 years specialist experience in literacy. As a Reading Recovery® teacher she has worked one-to-one with hundreds of children struggling with literacy. Her pupils have included those approaching English as a second language, and also children who are advanced and require extension. This experience has given the author a rare insight into the literacy process and has enabled her to develop new and unique approaches. Pam Holden was series consultant and key author of the Windmill Reading Program, Concept Readers and the I Spy Series published by Heinemann Education. These programs have been extremely popular with literacy teachers all over the world.

Products by Pam Holden:

Patrice Cardiel has taught kindergarten, first grade, second grade, and third grade. These educational experiences, along with those of her colleague, Alana Trisler, have been the basis for the creation of the phenomenally successful "Words I Use" family of books. Patrice lives and teaches in the Tulsa, OK area.

Products by Patrice Cardiel:

• Words I Use When I Write
• Writing Journals

Phyllis Bertin, M.S., a noted lecturer, teacher trainer, and school consultant is the Director of Reading at the Windward Teacher Training Institute, in White Plains, New York. After teaching mainstream and special education classes, she went on to become the Director of Special Education for Winward School in White Plains. Mrs. Bertin has been a Board Member of the New York State Branch of the International Dyslexia Association and received the Branch Award from the International Dyslexia Association in 1999.

Products by Phyllis Bertin:

• Merrill Student Readers
• Preventing Academic Failure (PAF)
• Preventing Academic Failure (PAF) Handwriting Program

Polly Bayrd has taught students with learning disabilities and emotional/behavioral problems at the elementary and junior high level. She has been a teacher-trainer at the University of Minnesota. She is currently a psychologist at Washburn Child Guidance Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota and consults at a local learning disabilities clinic. She has consulted and presented at conferences in India, Sri Lanka, Turkey, and England. Polly Bayrd received her undergraduate degree at Wellesley College and her graduate degrees at the University of Minnesota.

Products by Polly Bayrd:

Ridgewood Analogies was developed by teachers in the Ridgewood, New Jersey, Public Schools, is based on the curriculum they have been using with their elementary and middle-school students for the past 10 years.

Products by Ridgewood, NJ, Public Schools:

• Primary Analogies
• Ridgewood Analogies
• Ridgewood Grammar

Tanya Auger holds an AB in History and Literature from Harvard College and an EdM in Learning and Teaching from Harvard Graduate School of Education. She has taught at the elementary, middle school, and college levels, and has worked in educational publishing as a writer, editor, and consultant. She is currently the Vice President of Operations for EdEx—Editorial Experts in Education. She also reviews children’s books for The Horn Book Guide. Tanya enjoys all genres of literature but is partial to a good mystery.

Products by Tanya Auger:

A veteran teacher, Vera Schneider has a B.A. in English and a master’s degree in early childhood education. She holds teaching certifications in nursery school, elementary education, and English. She has taught first grade and is presently teaching kindergarten in the Ridgewood, New Jersey public schools. She is a member of the SCBWI.

Products by Vera Schneider:

• Stepping Stones

S.P.I.R.E.’s success is a result of the deliberate, reflective teaching and writing of Sheila Clark-Edmands, M.S. Ed. Clark-Edmands has more than 35 years of educational experience, ranging from classroom teaching and school administration to undergraduate and graduate college instruction. She has received teaching awards and honors from several school systems, and her work has been featured in the Wall Street Journal and many other general interest and industry publications.

Products by Sheila Clark-Edmands:

• Literacy Leaders™
• S.P.I.R.E.®
• S.P.I.R.E.® Illustrated Decodables
• Sounds Sensible

Rebecca Sitton began her career as a teacher in Oregon and was involved with regular education, special education, and curriculum and staff development.In support of her spelling program, she has traveled around the country giving seminars on spelling instruction. During her travels, she talks with classroom practitioners, keeping current on classroom issues and the needs of teachers and students. She has developed a stellar reputation as a spelling authority and was the spelling instructor for the Bureau of Education and Research for many years. Rebecca Sitton has also published language arts and spelling materials for preschool to adult students, covering both regular and special education needs. She holds degrees in Speech Pathology-Audiology and Education, an M.A. in Special Education, and certificates in Extreme Learning Problems, Early Childhood Education, and School Administration. She continues to give generously of her time to educators who have questions or comments via scheduled conference calls and often presents sessions at national conferences.

Products by Rebecca Sitton:

• Sitton Spelling and Word Skills®