FELLOW of Register of Educational Therapists (ASIA) RETA

Director of SpLD Assessment Services, English Language and Literacy Division, Staff Professional Development and Research Chair

Geetha Shantha Ram joined DAS on 16 August 2004 and assumed the post of Director of the English Language and Literacy (ELL) Programmes on 1 December 2014, which includes the Main Literacy Programme (MLP) and has led curriculum enhancements for the DAS through the Essential Literacy Approach and the current integrated MLP curriculum. Besides ELL, Geetha oversees the SpLD Assessment Service and Staff Professional Development division, where she led the development of professional pathways and quality assurance of all educational efforts. She also heads the DAS Research Committee and is an advisor in the Register of Educational therapists (Asia) (RETA).

Formerly, the Assistant Director of the DAS Academy, Geetha trained Allied educators, parents, and other professionals and continues to present at conferences, most recently at the 2020 International Dyslexia Association Conference.

Geetha has a Masters in English (NUS) and a Post Graduate Certificate in Learning and Teaching in Higher Education (Distinction) (LMU) and is currently pursuing her doctorate in the area of twice-exceptionality. With over 15 years of experience supporting children and adults in the area of dyslexia, Geetha aims to provide a quality service to dyslexics that searches for and realises their true potential and provide them with a view to appreciate their own unique abilities.

Susanna Cederquist is a lecturer, speaker and educator, using the concept En Bild av Dyslexi (A picture of dyslexia). She lectures in schools about how teachers can approach dyslexia and create a sustainable and equivalent education for students with dyslexia, as well as in authorities, companies and workplaces. How you increase the accessibility of texts, better understand dyslexia and the effects of what she calls the “text norm” in our society. The main focus is to present the whole picture of dyslexia; the consequences of problems in reading and writing and to see and increase the knowledge of the” dyslexic strengths”. She has many contacts with other dyslexia experts and researchers around the world. Susanna is an adviser for the Foundation of Prince Carl Philip and Princess Sofia of Sweden and leads courses for students and adults with dyslexia to help them better understands their competences and find their ways of success. She is the authorof the books “Dyslexia + Strengths = True” 2015 and “Dyslexia at school – see the whole picture” 2021. Susanna is also a teacher with a supplementary special education certificate.

Dr Kristiantini Dewi is a female paediatrician who completed her degree in the Faculty of Medicine, University of Padjajaran in 2005. Currently, she works as a pediatrician in Indigrow Child Development Center (CDC) since 2005 and the Melinda2 Child Development Center of Melinda2 Hospital since 2014. She is a completed fellow in the clinical attachment in the neuropediatric field at the Institute of Pediatric Hospital Kuala Lumpur 2007. As well as a lot of training related to the growth and development of children with special needs. In addition to being Chairman of the Dyslexia Association of Indonesia, she is also a coordinator of Special Services Program development in Indonesia Class Dyslexia, Autism classes and inclusion. Kristiantini has published several educational books for parents, conducted many workshops and training for professionals, teachers and parents. She supports a large parent community across the islands of Indonesia so then they can learn and share the knowledge with each other.

Professor, Chair, Graduate Department of Educational Psychology

Faculty of Education & Psychology at Alzahra University

Mahnaz Akhavan Tafti is a Professor at the Graduate Department of Educational Psychology at Alzahra University in Iran and is the co-founder of the Iranian Specific Learning Disorders and Differences Association. Since the past two decades, her focus of research, as well as academics, has been on the specific ways of cognitive processing of learners with dyslexia and their strengths. Mahnaz has published several articles in accredited national and international journals, has written a book and translated one, and has conducted many workshops for professionals, teachers, and parents. She is also serving as a Reviewer and Editorial Board Member of different scientific journals like Annals of Dyslexia and the International Dyslexia Association.

Dr. Helen Taylor is currently Research Associate and Project Lead on the Complementary Cognition, Entrepreneurship & Societal Adaptation at the University of Strathclyde. She works in collaboration with Professor Nigel Lockett and Professor Eleanor Shaw. Helen did her Bachelor and Masters degrees at the UCL and won another scholarship to do her doctorate at the University of Cambridge where her PhD research investigated the emergence of social complexity in humans. For her subsequent post-doctoral work she researched dyslexia to understand what this form of cognition was and why it existed from an evolutionary perspective. Her research led her to the discovery that this form of cognition is a critical part of a higher level system of collective cognition. It is through this system that our species adapt and evolve through behavioural, technological and cultural adaptations. As such her work shows that we have profoundly misunderstood dyslexia as a disorder. This form of cognition is actually a critical part of what made humankind successful and is essential in enabling us to adapt to the problems we now face. Helen will be presenting this research to the World Economic Forum this Summer and is part of the movement to reframe dyslexia so that we respect, value and nurture this way of thinking.

https://complementarycognition.co.uk/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/drhelentaylor/

https://twitter.com/DrHelenTaylorCC

https://www.instagram.com/Complementary_Cognition/

Thomas G. West is the author of three books. His first book -- In the Mind’s Eye: Creative Visual Thinkers, Gifted Dyslexics and The Rise of Visual Technologies -- was first published in 1991 and was released recently in a new third edition in 2020. The book has been translated into Japanese, Chinese and Korean. Awarded a gold seal by the Research Libraries of the American Library Association, the book was recognized as one of the “best of the best” for the year (in their broad psychology, psychiatry and neuroscience category). Mr. West has been invited to provide presentations for scientific, medical, art, design, computer and business groups in the U.S. and 19 other countries, including groups in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Dubai-UAE, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore and twelve European countries.

West has long been interested in the talents of dyslexic individuals along with the history of visual thinking discovery and the way the worlds of education and work are slowly being transformed by powerful visual technologies. West’s second book is Thinking Like Einstein: Returning to Our Visual Roots with the Emerging Revolution in Computer Information Visualization (2004). His third book is Seeing What Others Cannot See: The Hidden Advantages of Visual Thinkers and Differently Wired Brains (2017).

West has given presentations and workshops for organizations such as Harvard University, MIT and NASA Ames in the US, the Netherlands Design Institute in Amsterdam, the Glasgow School of Art, Oxford University and GCHQ in the UK, the Dyslexia Association of Singapore and a meeting of 50 Max Planck Institutes in Göttingen, Germany. West’s papers and personal blog have recently been deposited in a permanent archive in the U.S. National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Heath. Blog: inthemindseyedyslexicrenaissance.blogspot.com. Email: thomasgwest@gmail.com.