"Hello! My name is Maureen and I am a certified reading specialist with over 17 years experience in the education field. I began my career as a 9th grade English Language Arts teacher after graduating as the Dean Scholar of my class from Radford University. While teaching high school I spent my summers working towards my first master's degree from Teachers College, Columbia University in New York City in English Education. During my time as an ELA teacher I realized that a few of my students really struggled to read and at the time I was not trained to help them the way I knew they deserved. As a result of that realization, I went to New York City full time to get my second master's degree from Teachers College in their Reading Specialist Program.

While at Teachers College, I got extensive training the in the science of reading which involved understanding how a child's language development is dependent upon teaching phonics systematically, explicitly and cumulatively. I completed three clinical practicums at the Dean Hope Center located on site at Teachers College and experienced hands on learning in how to be a diagnostic reading practitioner. I was awarded the Charlotte M. Hamill Scholarship while in attendance as well as awarded a position as a Graduate Assistant for the Reading Specialist Program.

While still a student at Teachers College I accepted a job at the prestigious Eagle Hill School in Greenwich, CT - arguably one of the best schools in the country for children with language based learning differences. It was at EHS where I developed the art of teaching kids with diagnosed learning disabilities and executive functioning challenges. During my twelve years at EHS I worked with hundreds of students in small group instruction for remedial reading.

Currently, I am living a homestead lifestyle in Berkeley Springs, West Virginia on my 2.5 acres and dividing my time between helping families such as yourself and working at a non-profit Earth Educational School, Wind Dance Farm." less...