Addressing Learning Disabilities and Difficulties

Gilbert Guerin, PhD, is on the staff of the San Jose State University Foundation where he directs teacher preparation and demonstration projects. Previously he held the position of professor of special education and department chair at San Jose State University. He has also held faculty positions in the schools of Education at the University of California at Berkeley, in Educationaly Psychology at California State University, Hayward and in Psychology at Dominican College, San Rafael, California. He was a school psychologist for more than 10 years and holds teaching credentials in elementary education, secondary education, and special education. He is the author of Informal Assessment in Education; Improving Instruction for Youth at Risk; and Critical Steps in Curriculum Reform and coauthored Bridges to Reading. He is the coauthor of recent articles titled "Confronting the Problem of Poor Literacy: Recognition and Action," "Plans, Predictions, and Frustrations in the Education of a Troubled Youth: Michael's Story-One of Many," and "Dropout Prevention: a Case for Enhanced Early Literacy Efforts." He is a mentor and trainer with the Monarch Project, University of Illinois at Chicago, and has provided similar services for the Alliance Project at Vanderbilt University. He has developed an online instructional resource site for high school teachers of students who are at-risk for school failure (found at http://alternativeed.sjsu.edu). He actively supports parent participation in the instructional decisions for children and youth and collaborates with Parent Helping Parents, a family resource center.


Mary Male, PhD, is a professor of special education at San Jose State University, where she has taught for twenty-two years. She coordinates a federally funded Alternative Education Teacher Preparation Program. Previously, she was a general education classroom teacher in Grades 4, 5, and 6, and a junior high school resource specialist in special education. She has also been a program administrator and staff development consultant for the California Department of Education. She has helped school districts nationwide plan for inclusive classrooms and is an expert in using technology to create access to the general education curriculum. She is the author of Technology for Inclusion: Meeting the Special Needs of All Students (2003). Recent book chapters include "Computers and Cooperative Learning in Diverse Classrooms" in Cooperative Learning and Strategies for Inclusion by Joanne Putnam (1998) and "Tools for Reconceptualizing the Inclusive Classroom" in New Ways of Lookiing at Learning Disabilities edited by Lou Denti and Patricia Tefft-Cousin (2001). She has presented at conferences nationwide on strategic planning for comprehensive systems of personnel development, cooperative learning, technology and inclusion, and alternative education. She is an Apple Distinguished Educator. She is the parent of a student with disabilities. She is active in her community by serving as a Court-Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) and is a mentor for students in the foster care system who have a dream of a higher education.