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How and Why to Provide Intensive Instruction to Students with SLD
October 14, 2025 @ 11:30 am – 1:00 pm EDT
On October 14, LDA celebrates LD Awareness month with a virtual panel focused on the educational practices that will help students with specific learning disabilities thrive academically, socially and emotionally. Students with SLD make up the single largest group of students served under the IDEA. Data, including NAEP scores, graduation rates and college completion rates indicate that despite their potential, students with SLD are often not succeeding.
Two thirds of students with learning and other disabilities spend 80% or more of their school day in the regular classroom; a setting that too often is unable to provide the more intensive, systematic, and evidence-based instruction they need. As a result, most students with SLD are simply not getting the instruction they need and deserve. Many public schools, despite the best of intentions, are struggling to provide these students with an appropriate education. Special schools can play an important role and should be part of a solution, ensuring an appropriate education for all students with SLD.
Special schools can and must demonstrate a higher level of accountability to the parents and other stakeholders than what is typically provided by general education. Special schools can also partner with public schools in a variety of ways with the goal of improving outcomes for all students.
This panel will begin with Dr. Douglas Fuchs, Emeritus Nicholas Hobbs Chair of Special Education and Human Development at Vanderbilt University, providing an overview of the current state of special education for students with SLD.
We will then hear from four panelists (bios below the registration form) who practice in schools focused on facilitating success for students with learning and disabilities.
Next, discussant, Dr. Elizabeth Talbot, Professor and Associate Dean for Research and Faculty Development in the School of Education at William and Mary, will offer summary remarks on practices and policy implications. The event will conclude with time for questions from the audience.
This virtual panel will be recorded, and the recording will only be made available to LDA Members. Please register using the form below. If you’d like the replay and are not an LDA Member, an option is available via this form to become a member.
Douglas Fuchs, Ph.D. is Emeritus Professor and Nicholas Hobbs Chair in Special Education and Human Development and a member of the Vanderbilt-Kennedy Center. Before joining the Vanderbilt faculty in 1985, Fuchs was an assistant first-grade teacher in a private school in Baltimore for children with severe behavior problems; a fourth-grade classroom teacher in a public school outside Philadelphia; and a school psychologist in the Minneapolis Public Schools.
At Vanderbilt, he has been principal investigator of 50 federally-sponsored research grants. They have facilitated development of models of service delivery (e.g., pre-referral intervention, responsiveness-to-intervention, reintegrating students with disabilities into mainstream classrooms); assessments (e.g., formative measures of student and teacher evaluation, dynamic assessment); and instructional approaches (e.g., peer-mediated learning strategies). He is currently exploring the importance of “hybrid” cognitively-focused and skills-based academic interventions for most difficult-to-teach children.
Dr. Elizabeth Talbott is passionate about research, teaching and service that yield positive outcomes for children and youth who have learning, behavioral and mental health needs. She embraces team science, collaborating with colleagues in education, child clinical and school psychology, pediatrics and public policy. Dr. Talbott was a professor in special education at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) for more than 20 years and has served as department chair at both UIC and W&M. She advocates on Capitol Hill with national organizations (Council for Exceptional Children; American Educational Research Association) on behalf of students with and without disabilities. Dr. Talbott’s collaborative research has been funded by the Institute of Education Sciences, the National Science Foundation, the National Institute of Mental Health and the U.S. Department of Education.
Eric MacDonald, Ed.D. is the Head of Middle School at Benchmark School in Media, Pennsylvania, where he has held a number of different teaching and leadership positions for over 40 years. One of his great interests has been how to leverage technology to support students with learning differences. He is a regular contributor to Pennsylvania Reads, the journal of the Keystone State Literacy Association (KSLA) and has shared his knowledge at numerous local, state and national conferences, including KSLA, the Literacy Research Association, International Literacy Association, and International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE). He has served as the President of KSLA (1999 – 2000) and as the ILA Coordinator for Pennsylvania for KSLA (2013 – 2023), among other positions, and continues to serve on the KSLA Board of Directors. In addition he has held leadership or committee positions in the International Literacy Association and KSLA Delaware Valley..
Andrew Kieta is Morningside Academy’s Executive Director. He directs the continual development of the Morningside Model of Generative Instruction, an amalgamzation of evidence- and research-based best practices in assessment, instruction, and curriculum. He oversees Morningside’s various components, including Morningside Academy, a laboratory school for struggling elementary and middle school learners in Seattle, WA; Morningside Teachers’ Academy, which trains teachers and school leaders in over 150 schools and agencies across North America and Europe; Morningside Press, which publishes over 50 math, reading, and writing programs; and The Wing Institute at Morningside Academy, which disseminates educational best practices through the funding of graduate scholarships and a website which acts as a clearinghouse for research on best practices.. He received his bachelor’s degree from The Ohio State University and the his master’s of science in Behavior Analysis from the University of North Texas. He’s a frequent speaker at behavior analysis, special education, and general education conferences and workshops.
Maria Paluselli is the Chief Executive Officer of Provident Charter Schools since 2020. As a consultant, she assisted the founding Board of Provident Charter School with the charter application and opened the first Pittsburgh location as Chief Academic Officer in 2016. In 2023, she and the Provident Team opened a second school, PCS West. Prior to her work with Provident, Maria was an adjunct faculty member at the University of Pittsburgh and she has spent many years working as a consultant training teachers, assessing students and collaborating with families and school districts. As a trainer for Winsor Learning, she coached teachers nationwide in the use of several reading intervention programs. Maria continues to present on topics related to dyslexia, reading, and reading intervention. She was instrumental in starting the Pittsburgh Regional Group of the PA International Dyslexia Association and has served in various capacities within that group for close to 30 years. Maria began her career as a special education teacher and she has taught for over ten years in several public schools. In 1996, she had the pleasure of working with the Greater Pittsburgh Masonic Center to open the Pittsburgh Children’s Dyslexia Center. Here she became a certified Orton-Gillingham Trainer at the Advanced Level and trained and supervised tutors for over a decade.
Melissa Wood, The Lab School of Washington, is the Head of Middle School at Lab. With her background as a Speech-Language Pathologist and Structured Literacy Dyslexia Interventionist, Melissa has dedicated her career to working with students with language-based learning differences. Her career has spanned roles in public and independent schools, as well as on specialized teams at both Kennedy Krieger Institute and Massachusetts General Hospital. Prior to her current role, Melissa also served at Lab as the Executive Director of The Reservoir Group and the Director of Speech, Language & Literacy. Melissa has a particular passion for family and teacher education, as it relates to topics of language, literacy, and learning. Melissa earned her Bachelor’s Degree from Williams College, her Master’s Degree from the MGH Institute of Health Professions, and a Certificate in School Management and Leadership from Harvard Business School Online.
