Special Needs

Victoria Francis, MEd, EdS, spent over 40 years teaching high school across Idaho, New Mexico, and Hawaii. Her work inspired a passion for working with “underdog” students—those who others felt had poor future prospects.

Yvonna Graham, MEd, is a literacy advocate and founder of Mumbling Marmot Tutoring in Durango, Colorado. Specializing in dyslexia intervention and research-based reading instruction, she authored Dyslexia Tool Kit: What to Do When Phonics Isn’t Enough, Expanded Edition.

Breauna C. Wall, EdD, is an esteemed education professional with over a decade of experience as a leader, scholar, and practitioner. She champions equitable and collaborative education, with a focus on empowering educators through transformative knowledge, training, and support.

Sarah Kesty is an executive function and ADHD coach, author, and speaker. A former special educator, she empowers students, educators, and families with practical tools to build executive function skills through coaching, speaking, and The Executive Function Podcast.

Rhoda Bernard, EdD, is an internationally renowned expert in accessible arts education. She is the managing director of the Berklee Institute for Accessible Arts Education and the assistant chair of the Music Education Department at Berklee College of Music.

Yazmin Pineda Zapata, EdD, is a program specialist and teacher leader at Health Sciences High and Middle College in California. Her expertise in delivering special education services allows her to advocate for students in grades K–12 with varying learning differences.

Mandy Barrett, EdD, currently serves as an elementary school principal in northwest Arkansas. She has over 20 years of experience working in high-poverty schools and schools with large ESL populations.

Dr. Amy Williams brings over 25 years of experience in education, specializing in fostering inclusive practices and systems-level change to improve student outcomes.

Kristen Bordonaro, EdD, has served as a school- and district-level administrator for the last 15 years. She’s worked with both private and public school districts as well as special education collaboratives. Dr. Bordonaro’s passion is in uniting school teams to support the needs of all students through an “all means all” model.

Jane Pedersen, EdD, is the assistant director of educational services at Kildeer Countryside School District 96 in Illinois. She has previously served District 96 as an elementary school assistant principal and a school psychologist.