About the Presenter

Gary A. Troia, Ph.D., CCC-SLP is Associate Professor of Special Education at Michigan State University. Prior to receiving his doctorate from the University of Maryland in 2000, he worked 10 years in the public schools as a special educator and speech-language pathologist, and six years as a university clinical supervisor. Dr. Troia is co-editor of the journal Topics in Language Disorders and serves on the editorial boards of several top special education journals. With colleagues Froma Roth and Colleen Worthington, he developed a phonological awareness intervention program for young at-risk children called Promoting Awareness of Speech Sounds (PASS), published by Attainment Company. With fellow researchers Lori Skibbe and Ryan Bowles and funding through the Institute of Education Sciences, he has developed an online phonological awareness assessment for young children with complex communication needs called ATLAS-PA, one component of the Access to Literacy Assessment System. Dr. Troia has authored over 70 research papers, book chapters, and white papers and has given numerous presentations about his work in the areas of phonological processing and awareness, writing assessment and instruction, and teacher professional development in literacy. He has been awarded over $6.5 million in intramural and extramural grants and contracts.

About the Moderator

Alisa VanHekken is an experienced teacher and reading specialist. Alisa taught kindergarten and first grade and provided reading support services as a reading specialist. She holds a master’s degree in reading and literacy, along with an ESL endorsement and an administrative endorsement. Alisa was trained in the phonemic awareness curriculum by Dr. Heggerty himself and worked closely with him for over six years. Alisa began working at Heggerty in 2013 and serves as the Chief Academic Officer. She is the co-author of Bridge the Gap and the Early Pre-Kindergarten curricula.