The International Dyslexia Association Promoting literacy through research, education and advocacy

IDA Board of Directors

The Board of Directors of The International Dyslexia Association is a cross section of individuals concerned with the issues of dyslexia. Included are dyslexics, parents dyslexic children, researchers, educators and professionals. They represent a variety of professions, educators and educational administrators, scientists and researchers, business people, attorneys, and psychologists.

	EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE:
$S:\BOARD\Pictures\Sauter.jpg$	Guinevere Eden, D. Phil., President Director of the Center for the Study of Learning at Georgetown University Medical Center, Washington DC. Using functional brain imaging technology, Dr. Eden and her colleagues are investigating the neurobiological representation of reading in individuals who have dyslexia.
$S:\BOARD\Pictures\Sauter.jpg$	Edward J. Wilson, Secretary Edward J. Wilson is co-founder with his wife, Barbara A. Wilson of Wilson Language Training Corporation in Oxford, Massachusetts. Edward served as treasurer for the New England IDA and founding treasurer of the International Multisensory Structured Language Education Council (IMSLEC). He is certified in Wilson Reading System and Production/Inventory Control (CPIM).
$S:\BOARD\Pictures\Sauter.jpg$	Karen E. Dakin, M.Ed., Vice President Director of Learning Resources at Hathaway Brown School in Shaker Heights, Ohio. Her area of expertise includes the diagnosis and remediation of dyslexia in children and adults. For over 20 years, she has been actively involved in IDA Branch development with the New York and Northern Ohio Branches of IDA.
$S:\BOARD\Pictures\Sauter.jpg$	Joan A. Mele-McMarthy, D.A., CCC-SLP, Vice President Director of Education of the Summit School, a private school serving the needs of children who have dyslexia and other learning differences in Edgewater, Maryland. Prior to this position, Dr. Mele-McCarthy served as a Special Assistant to the Assistant Secretary of Special Education and Rehabilitation Services (OSERS) in the U.S. Department of Education. She has served as a clinical and academic faculty member at several universities and she owned and directed a multidisciplinary pediatric private practice. She also currently serves as an Advisor to the Board of the Wye River Upper School in Wye Mills, Maryland.
$S:\BOARD\Pictures\Sauter.jpg$	G. Emerson Dickman, J.D., Immediate Past President An attorney in private practice who, for over 25 years, has specialized in the representation of children with disabilities. Among the cases he has handled are leading precedents protecting the due process rights of pupils in special education and the constitutional rights of adults with developmental disabilities. Mr. Dickman was a member of the Professional Advisory Board for the National Center for Learning Disabilities for 6 years and Chairman of the protection and advocacy agency for the State of New Jersey for 5 years. He has been a member of the IDA Board of Directors for 10 years.
	Carolyn Blackwood, Chair, Branch Council Executive Committee Carolyn Blackwood currently serves as the Chair of the IDA Branch Council Executive Committee. She is also past president of the Louisiana Branch of IDA and serves as the Learning Assistance Coordinator, Center for Student Excellence at Southeastern Louisiana University.
	AT-LARGE DIRECTORS:
	Suzanne Carreker, M.S., CALT-QI Suzanne Carreker, M.S., CALT-QI, is vice president of program development at Neuhaus Education Center in Houston , TX, a non-profit organization that provides professional development to teachers in research-based reading instruction. A past president of the Houston Branch of IDA, she is a frequent speaker at local and national conferences and is the author of several language and literacy curricula. Ms. Carreker serves on the boards of the Academic Language Therapy Association and the Alliance for Accreditation and Certification.
$S:\BOARD\Pictures\Sauter.jpg$	Elizabeth Clark, M.Ed. An Administrator with Detroit Public Schools since 1969 and has served as a special education teacher, teacher consultant, and placement administrator. She is currently the Supervisor of Special Education. Ms. Clark is a member of the Learning Disabilities Association of America and the Michigan Branch of the Reading Association. She is a member of the IDA Michigan Branch Board of Directors and has been a member of IDA since 1991.
	Gad Elbeheri, Ph.D. Dr. Elbeheri is the Executive Director for the Centre for Child Evaluation & Teaching located in Kuwait. The CCET is a non-profit organization dedicated to supporting individuals with learning disabilities in Kuwait and the rest of the Arab and Gulf region. He is an applied linguist who's field of interest focuses on the cross-linguistic investigation of specific learning difficulties in Arabic.
$S:\BOARD\Pictures\Sauter.jpg$	Jonathan Green, M.Ed. Director of The Hamilton School at Wheeler in Providence, Rhode Island — an innovative school-within-a-school serving elementary and middle school children diagnosed with dyslexia or other language-based learning disabilities. Mr. Green has a Masters of Education from Harvard Graduate School of Education. He is a founding board member of the Bradford L. Dunn Institute, a nonprofit corporation committed to assisting students, parents, and teachers with issues related to learning differences.
	R. Malatesha Joshi, Ph.D. Professor of Reading in the College of Education at Texas A&M University. He is the founding editor of Reading and Writing: An Interdisciplinary Journal and is a member of the editorial board of the Journal of Learning Disabilities.
$S:\BOARD\Pictures\Sauter.jpg$	Maureen Lovett, Ph.D. Senior Scientist in the Brain and Behavior Program of The Hospital for Sick Children (HSC) and a Professor of Pediatrics and Psychology at the University of Toronto. She is Director of the Hospital's Learning Disabilities Research Program (LDRP), a clinical research unit that develops and evaluates research-based remedial programs for children with developmental reading disabilities.
	Susan Lowell, M.A. Susan C. Lowell, M.A., B.C.E.T., is a member of the Board of Directors of I.D.A. and past President of NC I.D.A. Ms. Lowell serves as an advisor to the Office of Overseas Schools, U.S. Department of State, where she serves as a reading consultant for the international schools. Ms. Lowell’s course, ‘Teaching Reading in the International School,’ is offered for graduate level credit through Buffalo State S.U.N.Y. in the Masters degree program for international school teachers. Ms. Lowell also trains teachers for ‘Brookes on Location’, using research-based curriculum in phonemic awareness and reading instruction. As the director of Educational Therapy Associates in Chapel Hill, Ms. Lowell works as an educational diagnostician providing evaluations of learning difficulties including dyslexia.
	G. Reid Lyon, Ph.D Dr. G. Reid Lyon, is the founder of Synergistic Education Solutions, specializing in the development and implementation of effective educational initiatives and policies to improve teacher learning and application, evidence-based assessment and instructional strategies, and program evaluation strategies to build accountability for student learning. Dr. Lyon has more than 30 years of experience as a researcher, professor, teacher, school psychologist, and leader in the development of evidence-based education policy at the federal and state levels. Prior to his most recent position as Executive Vice President for Research and Evaluation at Higher Ed Holdings, Lyon served as a research psychologist and the Chief of the Child Development and Behavior Branch within the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). He was responsible for the direction, development and management of research programs in developmental and cognitive neuroscience, developmental psychology, behavioral pediatrics, reading development and disabilities, and human learning and learning disorders.
$S:\BOARD\Pictures\Sauter.jpg$	Thomas E. McDonough, M.Ed. Retired educator and administrator, K-12 and the higher education and retail company human resources specialist for Mast General Stores in North Carolina. Tom is dyslexic and has been active in IDA since 1996 as a President of the North Carolina Branch and as Southern Regional Representative of the Branch Council Executive Committee since 2002.
$S:\BOARD\Pictures\Sauter.jpg$	Louisa Moats, Ed.D. A consultant on literacy research and literacy products, Sopris West Educational Services and a researcher, writer, and consultant specializing in professional development and teacher education. Dr. Moats earned her doctorate in reading and human development at the Harvard University Graduate School of Education.
$S:\BOARD\Pictures\Sauter.jpg$	Sandra L. Soper, M.S.E. Coordinator for Specific Learning Disabilities for the School Board of Sarasota, Florida. She is also Adjunct Professor in the Department of Special Education at the University of South Florida.
	Joe Torgesen, Ph.D. Joseph Torgesen is the Morcom Professor of Psychology and Education at Florida State University and Director Emeritus of the Florida Center for Reading Research. He also serves as the Director of Reading for the Center on Instruction K-12 in Reading, Math, and Science. He received his Ph.D. in Developmental and Clinical Psychology from the University of Michigan, and his research has focused on the psychology of reading and interventions for students with reading difficulties.
$S:\BOARD\Pictures\Sauter.jpg$	Eric Q. Tridas, M.D. A developmental and behavioral pediatrician in Tampa, Florida and Director of The Tridas Center for Child Development and the Medical Director for Pediatric Health Choice’s Prescribed Pediatric Extended Care Facilities. Dr. Tridas specializes in the management of ADHD, dyslexia, and other neurodevelopmental disorders.
	Rosalie Whitlock, Ph.D. Dr. Rosalie Whitlock is the Head of Charles Armstrong School, an independent school in Belmont, California, serving students with language-based learning differences, such as dyslexia. Dr. Whitlock served two years as Chairman of the Board of Trustees for The Children’s Health Council (CHC), a non-profit organization with the mission to make a measurable difference in the lives of children who face developmental and behavioral challenges and remains a member of the CHC executive committee and serves as a board member of Parents Education Network (PEN). She has also served as the Executive Director of the Accelerated School Project at Stanford University and is an adjunct faculty in special education at Notre Dame de Namur University. Dr. Whitlock is the parent of two children, one of whom has been diagnosed with dyslexia.
	Hugh W. Catts, Ph.D. Hugh W. Catts, Ph.D. is Professor and Chair of the Department of Speech-Language-Hearing: Sciences and Disorders at the University of Kansas. His research interests include the early identification of reading and language disabilities. He is the President-Elect of the Society for the Scientific Study of Reading.
	Lynne Fitzhugh, Ph.D., CALT Executive Director of The Dyslexia Center at Penrose-St. Francis Hospital in Colorado Springs, a non-profit organization providing direct services to individuals with dyslexia, professional development in reading instruction, and community services related to dyslexia. She is creator and instructor of the Dyslexia Institute for Educators at Colorado College, and Adjunct Faculty in the Department of Psychology at the University of Colorado, in Colorado Springs. Dr. Fitzhugh serves on the board of the Academic Language Therapy Association.
	EX-OFFICIO, NON VOTING MEMBER:
$S:\BOARD\Pictures\Sauter.jpg$	Stephen M. Peregoy, IDA Executive Director Mr. Peregoy holds a Bachelors and Masters degree in Health Science from Towson State University in Maryland, where he continues to teach courses in Public Health Education. He had been with the American Lung Association of Maryland since 1981, serving as that organization's President and CEO from 1989 to 2008. He brings an impressive track record of success in fundraising, leadership, financial management, strategic planning, marketing, government affairs and developing collaborative partnerships with like-minded organizations.