LDA COUNCIL 2006/2007LOFFICE BEARERS
President, Executive Editor, Journal Editor and Convenor of the Publications Committee
Professor Kevin Wheldall
BA, PhD, CPsychol, FBPsS, FCollP, MAPS
kevin.wheldall@speced.sed.mq.edu.au
Kevin Wheldall has been Professor of Education at Macquarie University, Director of Macquarie University Special Education Centre (MUSEC) and Principal of MUSEC School for Children with Special Learning Needs since 1990. Prior to this he was Director of the Centre for Child Study at the University of Birmingham in the UK. A registered psychologist, he is a Fellow of the British Psychological Society and of the College of Preceptors, and is a member of the Australian Psychological Society and of its College of Educational and Developmental Psychologists. Kevin has researched and written extensively in the area of learning and behaviour difficulties with particular emphasis on classroom behaviour management and helping older low-progress readers. He is the author of over one hundred and fifty books, chapters and journal articles in the field of Special Education and educational and child psychology. He jointly edits the international journal Educational Psychology. Kevin has acted as an adviser to both state and federal government education bodies and ministers on matters relating to Special Education generally and on behaviour and reading in particular. Kevin is also Director of the MULTILIT (Making up Lost Time in Literacy) Initiative and the MULTILIT Clinic in Sydney.
President-Elect and Associate Journal Editor
Dr Ruth Fielding-Barnsley
Teach BEd (SpecEd), PhD (UNE)
r.fielding-barnsley@qut.edu.au
Ruth has had an interest in learning difficulties since embarking on an ARC funded research project into the acquisition of reading with Professor Brain Byrne at the University of New England in 1985. During the following years Ruth gained her Batchelor of Education in Special Education and in 1998 was awarded her Ph D for a thesis entitled A model of beginning reading instruction: Explicit instruction in phonemic awareness, alphabet knowledge and encoding/decoding within a framework of shared book reading. During this period Ruth also worked for The New England Diagnostic Centre in the far north west of NSW with Aboriginal students and taught in primary schools in Armidale. Currently Ruth is lecturing in special education at the Queensland University of Technology and is still adding to her research output of over 30 journal articles and book chapters. She is a member of the ARC Network on Developmental Disorders of Language headed by Professor Max Coltheart at Macquarie University and was one of the signatories of the letter to the Minister of Education that led to the current National Inquiry into the Teaching of Literacy.
Treasurer: Hugh McCusker
BAppSci (Speech Pathology), Grad DipEd Studies (Literacy)
hughmccusker@lewisandlewis.com.au
Hugh McCusker is an experienced Speech Pathologist having held a number of Stream Leader positions in the Victorian Department of Education & Training from 1981 to 1994. During this time, Hugh provided support to a range of Specialist and Special Schools, a Special Assistance Unit (Language) as well as an Early Intervention Program. From 1994 to 2005, Hugh worked with the Catholic Education Office in Melbourne, initially holding the position of Senior Speech Pathologist (Western Region) and was subsequently appointed to the position of Manager (Student Services). In recent years, Hugh has been involved in federally funded research projects on both literacy intervention and the diagnosis of Severe Language Disorder. Hugh is currently the Manager (Education Support) with Lewis & Lewis Psychological Consultancy Services and is undertaking a PhD (University of Melbourne) researching early reading intervention.
Secretary and Convenor of the Administration Committee: Dr Molly de Lemos
BSc (Hons), MSc (Natal), PhD, ANU, MAPsS, Honorary Fellow, ACER
delemos@acer.edu.au
Molly was a Senior Research Fellow at ACER prior to her retirement in 2001. Her initial training is in psychology, but since joining ACER in 1967 worked on a number of projects relating to assessment of educational achievement, with a focus on children from different language and cultural backgrounds and the early years of schooling. She has also worked on projects relating to educational provisions for students with disabilities and the educational needs of children in care. She has had an ongoing interest in issues relating to pre-school education, early intervention, and the assessment and identification of children with learning difficulties, and has also worked in the area of psychological assessment, including the adaptation and norming of measures of intelligence, aptitudes and adaptive behaviour. Her publications include the 1994 report Schooling for Students with Disabilities, and the 2002 ACER review paper Closing the Gap between Research and Practice: Foundations for the Acquisition of Literacy. She has served on a number of committees and advisory groups relating to assessment and early childhood education, and is currently a member of the Developmental Disorders of Language and Literacy Network Group.
Council Member and Convenor of the Consultants Committee
Rosemary Carter
Trained Teachers Certificate (WA), Dip.Sp.Ed.(Melbourne), B.Sp.Ed.(Monash)., Life Member (AREA/LDA)
orcarter@bigpond.com
Following her initial teacher training in Western Australia, Rosemary taught in primary grades and in Special Classes (mixed disabilities) for 12 years, and subsequently taught in a Special Class (mild/moderate ID) in Tasmania. She has also taught English, French and Remedial English at secondary level in NSW. Moving to Victoria, she was in charge of a Remedial Centre, then a Special Assistance Unit, before accepting the role of Chief Clinician at the Reading Treatment and Research Centre in Carlton. When this was closed, she spent four years as integration teacher at a large primary school in the Northern suburbs before retiring. Currently in Private Practice, Rosemary's main professional interest is investigating why young children fail to learn the skills of reading. Rosemary has been a member of LDA for more than thirty years, from the time that it was initially established as the Diagnostic and Remedial Teachers of Victoria Association, and then through its various name changes (the Australian Remedial Teachers Association, the Australian Research Educators Association and Learning Difficulties Australia). Rosemary has been an LDA council member for 16 years, from 1983 to 1989, and then again from 1997 to the present time. She was the Referral Officer for the Victorian Referral Service from 1991 to 2002, and has been Convenor of the Consultants' Committee since 1998.
Council Member, Website Editor and Referral Officer (Queensland):
Janet Heffernan
BEd, DipSpEd (Griffith) MEd, DipT (QUT)
Jan is the Curriculum Co-ordinator and Support Teacher at Brisbane Boys' College Junior School, Queensland. During her 32 year teaching career, Jan has worked at the Queensland School for the Deaf as a classroom teacher and teacher librarian, a Visiting Teacher for the Deaf, classroom teacher and support teacher. Currently she is responsible for developing and coordinating the delivery of a differentiated curriculum for boys in the primary setting. Also she works individually with primary and secondary students with learning difficulties. Jan has always been interested in supporting students to achieve their goals. This interest led her to become the inaugural Referral Officer for Queensland, in September 2002.
Council Member and co-Editor of the Bulletin: Dr Louise Ellis
BPsych (Hons), PhD, RegPsychol, MAPS
l.ellis@optusnet.com.au
Dr Louise Ellis is a registered psychologist. She completed her first degree at Macquarie University and her PhD in educational psychology at the Self-concept Enhancement and Learning Facilitation (SELF) Centre at the University of Western Sydney. Dr Ellis’s appointment prior to her present position as a Senior Clinician with MULTILIT was with the prestigious Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER), where she recently completed her first book Balancing Approaches: Revisiting the educational psychology research on teaching students with learning difficulties.
Council Member and co-Editor of the Bulletin: Dr Alison Madelaine
BA, Dip. Ed., Dip. Spec. Ed. PhD
alison.madelaine@mq.edu.au
Alison Madelaine is a Lecturer in Special Education at Macquarie University Special Education Centre (MUSEC) in Sydney. Alison teaches postgraduate units in Effective Literacy Instruction and Special Education Research Methods. In 2003 she was awarded a PhD for her thesis entitled Curriculum-based measurement of reading and teacher judgment of reading performance. Alison’s current academic interests include literacy in general, reading fluency, book levelling and curriculum-based measurement of reading and writing. During the 2003/04 school year, Alison participated in the Visiting International Faculty Program, and taught disadvantaged students with learning disabilities in South Carolina, USA. At present, she works as a consultant to the Schoolwise Program in Sydney, and the MULTILIT Coen Project in Queensland, and also provides professional development in reading and classroom management.
Council Member: Norina Buchanan
TPTC (Leeds, UK), Grad.Dip. Spec. Ed. (Monash)
norinabuk@yahoo.com.au
Norina completed her teacher training in England and taught in a variety of primary schools for eight years before emigrating to Australia and settling in Melbourne in the late 1960s. She was employed by the Victorian Education Department and taught in primary schools for 15 years, working with children from Prep to Grade 6. In 1982 she studied for her Graduate Diploma in Special Education, majoring in Visual Impairments. After graduating she worked in many different special education settings including Visually Impaired, Physically Handicapped, and a Special Assistance Unit (S.A.U.), teaching severely learning disabled children. She also ran a Special Education Unit for dysphasic children. In 1966 she opened her own private practice as a registered LDA consultant, and has built up a very busy consultancy teaching children with specific learning difficulties ranging from Prep to Year 9, as well as some adult clients.
Council Member: Sharlene Ann Chimes
Witwatersrand Teachers College (South Africa), Dip. Sp. Ed. Cum Laude (Rand Afrikaans University, South Africa)
Sharlene was born in South Africa and qualified as a teacher in 1983, working in a variety of different schools teaching kindergarten, prep, primary and secondary school students. She subsequently took a degree in Special Education, graduating cum laude. After undertaking further studies in Psychology she moved into private practice, tutoring children of all ages. Sharlene emigrated to Australia in 2001, taking up a position in a primary school setting and also working part time as special education therapist at a secondary school, where she worked together with the school psychologist on the identification of students with learning difficulties. She has been a consultant member of Learning Difficulties Australia since 2002, and currently has her own private practice, where she consults with parents and provides therapy to children. She also works at a small private primary school as a special education teacher, where she provides therapy to students and consults with and advises teachers on the needs of the students, as well as training teachers to extend their knowledge and improve the efficacy of their teaching through Professional Development workshops. She also administers school readiness assessments for children in the pre-prep year in order to plan and provide for them when they enter the primary school setting. She enjoys working with children who require more individualised learning so that they may acquire the necessary skills and knowledge individually to reach their potential, and believes that “every child has the potential to succeed, despite his or her problems or differences!”
Council Member: Professor Ian Hay
Dip T (NBCAE); BA (Psy Qld); MEdSt (Qld); PhD (Qld); MAPsyS.
ihay2@une.edu.au
Ian Hay has recently taken up the position of Professor of Special Education/Educational Psychology at the School of Education at the University of New England. Prior to this he was Associate Professor at the University of Queensland. He has published more than 80 book chapters, refereed journal articles, reports, and other articles in a range of international and national peer review publications. As a chief investigator he has been awarded competitive research funds in excess of a million dollars, and has supervised some 20 higher degree research students. His main research interests are in the domain of students with literacy and academic difficulties, the role of motivation in learning, and students' cognitive development.
Council Member: Janet Roberts
BA (English); GradDip (SpEd), TITC.
jroberts@connexus.net.au
Jan Roberts is the Director of Learning Pathways and a specialist in teaching children and adults how to learn. She was a primary, then secondary English and Special Education teacher, before establishing a training and tutoring consultancy. She helps teachers, aides and parents increase their skills and strategies through practical professional development and ongoing consultancy in schools. She tutors students with learning difficulties in literacy and maths and trains adults in literacy and study skills. She convened the LDA Melbourne conference in 2000. Jan has been trained as an instructor in all of de Bono thinking tools and has conducted workshops in schools and the corporate sector. She also co-edited, with Dr de Bono, the Six Thinking Hats Manual for Education. Jan is the author of various resources, including Spelling Recovery (ACER Press and David Fulton, UK); Now I Can Spell and Read Better, Too (Learning Pathways), a research-based, structured program for primary and secondary levels; Comprehension Plus and Advanced Comprehension Plus (Learning Pathways).
Council Member: Daiva Verbyla
BEd, Grad Dip Adol & Child Psych, MEd Psych, CEDP, MAPS
d.verbyla@elsevier.com
Daiva has a worked in a range of fields that are relevant to the work of LDA, and has extensive experience in areas related to provision of services for and assessment of students with learning difficulties, as well as organising and presenting workshops. She has been involved in drawing up ethical guidelines for pyschologists for the Victorian Department of Education and as a member of the APS Committee on Tests and Testing.
Updated 18 October 2006