About Us

In 2006, Learnabilities began as a private practice in a spare bedroom, marketed through fliers in mailboxes and local newspapers. Families brought their children who were struggling with some aspect of school: basic skills in reading, writing, or math; executive function; homework strategies or study skills; navigation of the special education system; or something else entirely unique to the individual student. The private practice morphed through several offices, at-home visits, and eventually virtual sessions, all the time focusing on the identification of student strengths and the building of strategies and skills through an empowering mindset.

Although the private practice has continued to the present day, my work in education eventually broadened to include nearly a decade working as a professor and eventually Chair of Education at a private college in New York State. Through this work, I taught undergraduate and graduate general and special education teacher candidates to focus on the individual student and support a diversity of learning profiles in an empowering way. Through my involvement with the college’s after-school program, I learned about executive function and began to collaborate with the educators at ResearchILD. Eventually, I would become a consultant and trainer for the SMARTS Elementary and Secondary Executive Function Curriculums and part of the curriculum development and instructional design teams for the SMARTS@Home version for families.

Following my stint at the college, my career broadened even further to include more work with the Parent Network of WNY and ProActive Caring to support families and caregivers in numerous ways, including mindfulness strategies. At this time, although my son continued with traditional school, I began to homeschool my daughter, AJ, who was in middle school at the time. I became involved in the homeschool community and began writing curriculum and blogs for Time4Learning, the former A-Z Homeschooling, Homeschool.com, and other homeschooling organizations and websites. Due to the flexibility of homeschooling, I have been able to travel and present at conferences and school districts across the country with AJ. And now… you are up to date!

Since founding Learnabilities back in 2006, I know that my work with students has not always been perfect. As an educator, I learned a bit more with every student meeting, with every colleague conversation, with every reflection. I would look back on my interactions with different students and question how I might have helped that student more. What if I had shared a different strategy? What if I had said something in a more empowering way? That is the life of a teacher guided by good intentions, and support of teacher journeys is the main goal of this website. My hope is to build a community of teachers (both professional and informal) who “care to share” strategies and collaborate so that the teacher journey is easier, and the student journey is empowering and effective.

Welcome to Learnabilities!