A’Seret Dokubo-Gravier serves as the Specialized Development Cohort Program Director for SELF. In this capacity, A’Seret is responsible for managing programming for eight specialized development cohorts. Prior to joining SELF, A’Seret was a 2011 Teach For America corps member in a New Orleans PK-8 school. She has a Masters in Education Leadership from Louisiana State University and is pursuing a Doctorate of Education at Johns Hopkins University.

Expert in Intellectual Disabilities

Barry Barbarasch, Ed.D., has been a school psychologist for over 35 years. He is currently Adjunct Professor in the school psychology Masters/Certification program at Rowan University and in the School Psychology doctoral program, at the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine. Barry is Past President of the New Jersey Association of School Psychologists and is currently chairperson of the NJASP Government and Professional Relations Committee.

Bob Cunningham is a nationally known education leader whose career has focused on students who learn and think differently. He serves as Executive Director, Learning Development and is a founding expert on learning and attention issues for Understood. Previously, Bob was executive director for both the Robert Louis Stevenson School and the Purnell School, and head of school for the Gateway School. He earned degrees from Indiana University of Pennsylvania and Teachers College, Columbia University.

Executive Director and Chief Scientist at EdTogether and an Adjunct Lecturer at the Harvard GSE. Over the course of her career, she has built a strong program of work that bridges research and practice to broaden the participation of vulnerable youth in education. Her work is anchored by a commitment to bringing evidence-based solutions from the learning sciences to practical implementation at scale. She is a co-editor of A Research Reader in Universal Design for Learning (Harvard Education Press, 2012).  Dr. Schlichtmann is herself a person with dyslexia

Vice President of Public Policy at the Autism Society

Lindsay Kruse is an authentic, strategic builder of people, programs and communities of impact focused on creating a more equitable world. Most recently, she served as the Vice President for the Educators team at Understood.org (formerly the National Center for Learning Disabilities). Prior to her leadership at Understood, she served as the Managing Director of the Leverage Leadership Institute for the Relay Graduate School of Education and helped launch the National Principals Academy Fellowship for Relay. 

Michelle Norman, 2019 AFI Navy Spouse of the Year, is a Navy spouse of 25 years and mother of a 16-year-old daughter with cerebral palsy and multiple other disabilities.  Seeing that so many children will benefit from her dedicated efforts, the Virginia Beach resident has become a passionate advocate for other military families with kids with special needs.

Rebecca Eisenberg, MS, CCC-SLP, is a speech-language pathologist, certified autism specialist, author, instructor, and parent of two children. She began her website, Language During Mealtime and podcast to create a resource for parents to help make mealtime an enriched learning experience. She is the author of several published games for children with special needs, a story time workbook and four children’s books. 

Educator.  Expert in  Family Collaboration, IEP Processes (General), Intellectual Disability, Transition Services, and parent’s rights.

Dr. Sheldon H. Horowitz is the Senior Advisor of Strategic Innovation, Research & Insights at the National Center for Learning Disabilities (NCLD). He provides leadership and oversight of key programs and serves as an in-house expert on learning and attention issues to the NCLD Team. His prior work included directing evaluation and treatment programs in outpatient psychiatry and in developmental and behavioral pediatrics.  

Sivan Tuchman is a research analyst at the CRPE, where she studies how educators and families experience the implementation of innovative policies and programs in K–12 schools and the systems that support them. She also focuses on expanding the use of quantitative measures to study special education. Sivan completed her PhD in education policy at the University of Arkansas where she focused her research on policies affecting students with disabilities and school choice. 

I began my work in education in Philadelphia in 2003. I’ve now taught, led, coached, and supported teachers in three countries and many states! I love to support teachers in thinking about how to serve exceptional learners and meet their social-emotional needs.