About

In 2016, after ten years of working in the field of education, I left the field after the birth of my daughter. Burnout had already been building for a while; the demands of teaching had worn me down, and I had no intention of ever going back. That chapter of my professional life felt closed, and I was relieved to step away.

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That changed when my daughter was diagnosed with a Specific Learning Disorder in Reading (Dyslexia) and ADHD. Suddenly I was facing a challenge I hadn't trained for: helping my own child navigate a learning difference I barely understood. My internal struggle was real and, at times, painful. As a former educator, I felt like I should know how to help her, and not knowing left me frustrated and, honestly, a little ashamed. I was her mother, but I felt powerless to give her what she needed.

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Externally, the struggle looked like a search with no clear map. I didn't know where to turn, so I started looking for tutoring, assuming that was the answer. Instead, I found a local Educational Therapist, and that referral became my turning point. Working alongside this Educational Therapist, I saw firsthand what a tutor alone could not have offered. A tutor typically focuses on the surface-level task: getting through tonight's homework, reviewing this week's spelling list, reinforcing a specific skill in isolation. An Educational Therapist goes further, looking behind the visible struggle to the executive function skills driving it: working memory, processing speed, organization, self-monitoring, and the ability to plan and sequence tasks. Rather than simply reteaching content, she assessed why my daughter was struggling and addressed the root cause, not just the symptom. That distinction changed everything. It wasn't just about helping my daughter read better; it was about helping her understand how her own brain worked, and giving her tools she could carry into every subject, not just literacy.

That was the spark. Watching my daughter's growth under someone who understood both the roots of her reading struggles and the executive function skills underlying them made me realize this was the work I wanted to do, not just for her, but for other students like her. My daughter became, in many ways, my first and most influential teacher in this new direction. Her Educational Therapist became my guide, showing me what was possible when instruction was evidence-based, sequential, and explicit, and when it treated the whole learner and addressed both strengths and weaknesses, rather than a single skill deficit.

That spark led me to formal training. I enrolled in a graduate program at NDNU, where I did more than study theory. I completed an internship working one-on-one with a student, applying Orton-Gillingham-based strategies directly, and conducted two case studies working one-on-one in math and literacy. Through this hands-on work, I saw the same transformation I'd witnessed in my daughter play out in real time — in reading development, in mathematical understanding, and in self-confidence. Throughout my time at NDNU, I also learned about the neuroscience behind learning by studying how the brain builds reading pathways, how attention and working memory systems develop, and how executive function skills mature over time. Understanding this science gave me a deeper why behind the strategies I was learning; it wasn't enough to know what worked; I wanted to understand why it worked at a neurological level, so I could adapt my approach to each learner in front of me. I also completed Orton Gillingham training through IMSE to ground myself in structured literacy, and I pursued an Executive Function Coach certification through EFCA to make sure I could address those "behind the scenes" skills in students with or without diagnosed learning disabilities. 

Writing this out reminded me how easy it is to forget how far I've come, and how rarely I give myself credit for the path that got me here. What began as a mother's frustration at not knowing how to help her own child has become a professional mission to help other struggling learners find the same path forward. Today, my daughter reads with a confidence I once feared she might never have, and that transformation, watching her go from a struggling, discouraged reader to a capable, self-assured one, is the clearest proof I have that this work matters. She is the reason I'm committed to giving other students and families that same outcome.