Learning Specialists Archives

Bailey Landow

August 23, 2023

Bailey Landow has loved working with and mentoring students since she was very young. As a 5th grader in New York City, Bailey participated in her school’s buddy program, where she helped a first grader with homework while engaging in recreational activities. This love for working with youth led to an interest in child psychology, which transformed into a passion for education and development.

Bailey is a life-long New Yorker and a graduate of Riverdale Country School. Throughout her undergraduate years at Cornell University, Bailey immersed herself in various tutoring and mentorship positions for both college students and local Ithaca youth. Upon graduating in 2021 with a BS in Human Development and a minor in Theater, Bailey joined Teach for America as part of the New York Corps. After teaching a third grade summer program blending writing and Greek mythology curricula, Bailey spent two years at Harlem Link Charter School, where she taught kindergarten in an Integrated Co-Teaching classroom. As a special education teacher, Bailey supported students with various disabilities and worked closely with families throughout the IEP process. While teaching, Bailey obtained her Master’s degree in Early Childhood Special Education from Relay Graduate School of Education. She is currently working towards her PhD in School Psychology at Teachers College, Columbia University, where she researches behavior plan implementation and teacher consultation.

Bailey has privately tutored students ages 3-13 in a range of academic subjects, including reading/phonics, writing, and math. Her time in the classroom has taught her the importance of differentiation and discovering the “whole child” to best build a collaborative relationship. Bailey has training in Wilson Fundations, Heggerty, Fountas and Pinnell reading assessments, as well as the Heart Words sight-reading method. Additionally, she was trained in reflective listening techniques and crisis intervention, and was an active volunteer with the Crisis Text Line while at Cornell.

In her free time, Bailey enjoys theater, dance, and spending time with family and friends. You can often find her at a Broadway show or in the audience of one of New York’s many late-night talk shows.

Erica Herro

August 23, 2023

Erica Herro is a highly experienced educational consultant with a diverse range of skills and expertise. She has over 25 years of experience in the field and has a strong background in supporting students with complex learning needs.

During her undergraduate studies, Erica trained in Orton-Gillingham instruction and worked as a reading specialist while pursuing her graduate degree. She expanded her knowledge by obtaining additional training in speech and language, handwriting, reading, math, executive functioning, social skills, learning disabilities, gifted education and mental health. During this time, she taught high school Algebra, and privately tutored students of all ages.

Erica’s professional journey continued as she pursued a Master’s degree in counseling psychology and became a licensed school psychologist and board-certified educational therapist. She held various positions at private clinics on the east and west coasts, including Director of Clinical Instruction and Director of Evaluation and Instruction. She developed a framework for K-12 math and social skills instruction for students with non-verbal learning disability, researched and published about effective interventions for phonological processing, and established an early intervention preschool for students with intensive language and literacy needs. In these roles, she provided training, supervision and consultation to schools, families, and educational publishers, as well as working directly with families and students from age 2 through adults. While she is effective with most learners and their support teams, her nuanced approach with gifted students with dyslexia stands out. Additionally, she taught graduate courses in the Psychology of Learning at the University of California.

Recognizing her strengths in curriculum development and instructional leadership, Erica transitioned into administration as the Director of Curriculum and Instruction at Stevenson School in Carmel, California. In this capacity, she played a vital role in redesigning professional development programs and student support services, ensuring an inclusive and effective learning environment for all students. While at Stevenson, Erica taught middle school English, Math, and Study Skills, and published several articles on neurodiversity, differentiation, grading and assessment, and teacher training. In 2020, Erica joined the founding faculty of TASIS Portugal as the Assistant Head of Academics. She helped establish the systems to support curriculum, assessment, professional development, student support, and teacher evaluation and contributed to the growth and success of the school, helping it expand from 250 to 800 students within a few years.

Her extensive experience as an administrator, classroom teacher, learning specialist, school psychologist, curriculum developer, and instructional coach allows her to collaborate effectively with professionals from various disciplines. Erica’s ability to synthesize information from diverse sources and work collaboratively with professionals such as pediatricians, psychiatrists, neuropsychologists, psychologists, counselors, speech therapists, occupational therapists, administrators, teachers, tutors, parents, and students sets her apart. She utilizes this interdisciplinary approach to create comprehensive and individualized plans that inform the decision-making process of the educational team.

Erica provides valuable services, including parent consultation, record reviews, and guidance on early intervention, differentiated instruction, and instructional coaching tailored to children with language and learning disabilities and twice-exceptional learners. Her expertise and comprehensive approach make her a skilled and valuable resource for supporting students’ educational needs.

Amy Glickman

June 4, 2023

Amy Glickman is a native New Yorker. She was born and raised in Brooklyn and now resides and works in Manhattan. Amy earned a Bachelor’s degree in Elementary and Special Education from Brooklyn College and a Master’s degree in Learning Disabilities from Teacher’s College, Columbia University. While at Columbia her work focused on the assessment and remediation of reading and math disabilities. Each semester she interned at the Child Study Center where she gained experience in administering a battery of classroom based and standardized assessment measures to identify strengths and weaknesses of individual students and then developed an intervention plan based on the assessment findings. Upon graduating from Teacher’s College, she worked as a classroom teacher at the Stephen Gaynor School, where she taught students with language-based learning disabilities. While at Stephen Gaynor Amy developed and implemented an after-school computer skills training program which was tailored to the individual needs of the students.

After realizing that she enjoyed the personal connection with students and could effect more meaningful change working one-on-one, Amy established her own educational practice working with students from kindergarten through high school. Her favorite part about tutoring children is the opportunity to build and maintain deeply personal connections with students throughout their years of learning. In addition to her practice, Amy worked with a team of psychologists and learning specialists performing psychoeducational evaluations. She evaluated students in areas of executive functioning including memory, and attention, auditory processing and language, visual processing and academic skills.

Amy has experience working as an educational consultant at the Ramaz Lower School in New York City. Her purview included evaluating the learning center and lower school reading writing and math curriculum. She also advised teachers on how to best meet children’s individual learning and behavioral needs. While at Ramaz, Amy helped design and execute a new class for children with language and learning disabilities. She trained and supervised teachers and helped design curriculum.

In her work, Amy integrates rigorous evidence-based phonics training with literacy encompassing word recognition, reading comprehension, fluency, vocabulary development spelling and expressive writing. Amy also has extensive experience supporting students with attention and executive functioning needs. She is trained in Orton-Gillingham , PAF Reading Intervention, Judith Hochman’s Writing Revolution, Stern, Singapore Mathematics and a variety of other programs.

Amy’s love of mathematics has led her to tutor students with learning disabilities in math from Kindergarten through high school. She believes a strong conceptual understanding is key to math success. For grades k-8, she uses a Singapore Math approach, which involves teaching new concepts in three stages; concrete, pictorial and abstract. Emphasizing problem solving, she uses real life examples to make the work meaningful and to motivate students. At the high school level, Amy supports students, in Algebra 1 and 2, Geometry and Trigonometry. She does not just teach the content but rather teaches the student to think mathematically and take in new information in a manner that is most efficient for them. Most importantly, she teaches her students to enjoy math.

Amy’s philosophy centers around focusing on the whole child. While incorporating the students interests, she tailors the tutoring process to meet the needs and goals of the individual student. To help a student build self-esteem and achieve their full potential she uses a collaborative approach working closely with parents, teachers and other professionals.

Marie Leblanc

May 26, 2023

Marie Leblanc guides diverse learners of all ages as they navigate their academic endeavors. She is a New York State certified 7-12 ELA teacher, reading specialist, student advisor and private tutor who holds a BA from Fordham University in Literature, an MA degree in English and American Literature from New York University and an MA in Teaching and Learning also from NYU. In addition, Marie has earned an advanced certificate in TESOL (Teaching English to Students of Other Languages) and is certified as a Reading and Writing Specialist. Additionally, Marie has been trained at the Associate Level through Commonwealth Learning in Orton-Gillingham to deliver corrective and developmentally appropriate reading education for students with dyslexia.

Recognized as a New York City Department of Education “Model Teacher,” Marie designs standards-based, differentiated, humanities curricula to students in inclusion (ICT) classes containing ninth through twelfth graders. She opens her doors for collegial observations, and enjoys leading internal and external professional development on best practices in reading strategies and the writing process. Marie is a member of several critical groups that share insights on, and advanced strategies for working with students with reading deficits and differences.

In addition to her teaching responsibilities, Marie acts as an advisor in the social, emotional and academic development of a small group of students throughout their years in high school. She meets regularly with her advisees, guiding them in applying to post-secondary education, building a spirit of trust and camaraderie among each other as well as encouraging their understanding and enactment of core values, e.g. Respect for Humanity, Diversity, Truth and Intellect and Commitment to Peace, Justice and Democracy. As the primary point of contact between home and school, the advisor-advisee relationship provides a consistent and open line of communication among all stakeholders in students’ lives. Marie speaks several languages, which helps her non-English speaking students negotiate their acquisition of English Language skills and aids in communications with their families.

Marie is particularly proud to have helped found and develop a school built on seven core values, lived and expressed by its community members, through restorative justice practices and community service initiatives. Her curricula and teaching approach emerges from these core principles, underscoring an individualized approach to teaching, which has developed through commitment to, experience of, and belief in how students best learn.

Marie enjoys nearly two decades of experience working with students with different learning styles and honoring their needs: from students requiring enrichment opportunities, to struggling readers and those with particular learning challenges. She provides homework support in the humanities, helps students with test preparation, including the SHSAT, the NY State ELA Exam, the PSAT and the SAT, assists students and families navigating the college application process, works with middle school through college students on essay writing, and aids students of all ages with developing their reading skills and stamina, reading comprehension and text analysis.

Marie’s commitment to helping students realize their intellectual promise inspired her to cofound a tutoring company several years ago so that she might closely work with individuals at various stages of their educational journey.

Marie is exalted in her career as an English teacher. Her motivation stems from the potential of young people and she remains inspired by the opportunity to contribute to their academic success.

Shelly October

May 20, 2023

Shelly October applies her experience as a K-12 English teacher, advisor, speech-language pathologist, and private tutor as she facilitates student success in reading, writing, executive functioning, and applying for college for diverse learners. She holds a BA in English language and literature from SUNY Stonybrook, a Master’s degree in Teaching English as a Second Language from Teachers College, Columbia University, and a Master’s degree in Science in Communication Disorders from Western Kentucky University.

After graduating from Teachers College, she began teaching at a progressive transfer high school in Chelsea, where students from different backgrounds required a smaller and different setting in order to graduate high school. It is at this school where Shelly learned the skills of wearing many hats, differentiating lessons to multilingual learners, students with disabilities, twice-exceptional students, and generation education students who needed alternative pathways towards credit accumulation. Shelly took extensive training in restorative practices, focusing on holistic education and individualized targeted academic and socioemotional support for all students. Throughout the years, Shelly has taught math, science, English, and social studies in a co-taught and stand-alone environment, learning the skill of intentional lesson planning and deep collaboration with students, family, staff, and outside partnerships.

After presenting at two Expeditionary Learning Conferences with topics ranging from strategies to keep high school students engaged during advisory to creating a vertical farm in the Science classroom using found materials, Shelly began exploring other educational opportunities. As a long-time lover of linguistics married with her experience in public education, Shelly enrolled in Western Kentucky University to obtain a Masters in Science in Communication Disorders resulting in national certification of clinical competency from the American Speech Language Hearing Association. With gained experience from early intervention with the senior population, Shelly returned to the K-12 realm to support students with receptive and expressive language needs by developing strategies to help difficulty with phonemic awareness, ADHD, autism, executive function, career skills, presentations, self-advocacy, community engagement, test preparation, college applications, and essay writing. Always seeking new ways to learn, Shelly was awarded a Fund for Teachers grant to better clinically discern between language differences and disorders in speech-language students from French-speaking countries. This experience generated a more niched interest in the deep components of language which eventually led her to the vast research on the science of reading.

Once completing the Associate Level Course from the Kildonan Teacher Training Institute, accredited by the Orton-Gillingham Academy, Shelly cemented her language skills and applied them immediately at Camp Dunnabeck, a summer camp designed for students ranging from 8-16 diagnosed with dyslexia and other language-based disabilities. Under the supervision of the director of language training, Shelly designed daily one-hour lessons for individual students using an evidence-based curriculum with a sequenced approach. Shelly administered standardized and criterion-referenced assessments as a guide to support students in errorless learning and growth in literacy.

Her experience as a tutor inspired her to cofound a tutoring company, where she can support all students with literacy and other educational needs. Currently, she is a New York State licensed speech-language pathologist in a PreK–12 public school, working with administrators to implement a structured literacy curriculum for all grades so that students from many backgrounds can feel confident about reading.

As a member of the Mayor’s Women Advisory Board, Shelly serves the community based on the needs of women, supporting women’s empowerment in education, finance, housing, entrepreneurship, and self-advocacy. Her passions include supporting anyone in believing they can achieve any goal and remaining grounded in the belief that life is limitless with a growth mindset.

Bailey Landow

Amy Glickman

Marie Leblanc

Shelly October

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