About Sheppard Dysphagia Resource
Michael Sheppard, son of Dr. Justine Joan Sheppard, founded the Sheppard Dysphagia Resource in 2019. From 1996 to present, Michael has served as executive director of Big Sky Learning, a science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) program in Santa Fe and Los Alamos, New Mexico. Michael also developed The Big Learning Machine, an online learning platform specific to the facilitation of project based math and science learning.
Annemarie Helder is a Dutch speech and language therapist at the Gemiva-SVG Group in Leiden, the Netherlands. The Gemiva-SVG Group is a Dutch foundation supporting people with disabilities in several locations in the environment of Gouda and Leiden.
Annemarie holds a bachelor's degree in Speech and Language from The University of Applied Sciences in Utrecht, the Netherlands. She is member of NVLF (Dutch Association for Speech and Language Pathology) and is professionally quality registered.
Annemarie specializes in dysphagia and swallowing rehabilitation in children and adults with intellectual and physical disabilities. She met Joan Sheppard for the first time in 2002 at one of the first DDS-workshops available in the Netherlands. A collaboration evolved. In 2009 Annemarie did scientific research in the field of detecting signs of dysphagia by care-givers. In 2017 Annemarie started teaching the DDS for the Dutch audience after being trained by Joan herself.
Hilda Pressman MA CCC SLP, BCS-S, retired, was a partner in Nutritional Management Associates with Justine Joan Sheppard, Ph.D. CCC SLP, BCS-S from 1994 to 2017. She treated children and Adults with Developmental Disabilities and consulted to schools and Developmental Centers. Ms. Pressman taught the Dysphagia Disorders Survey in New Jersey and New York. She also contributed several chapters to the book Dysphagia and the Child with Developmental Disabilities.