Sherry Conrad has been the itinerant teacher of the Deaf for Okeechobee County Schools for over ten years. She works with students in pre-k through twelfth grade. In addition to working with students in an itinerant setting, she also teaches reading to first and third grade students at the site school for students who are D/HH. She works as a substitute interpreter for Indian River State College. Sherry earned her Bachelor’s Degree in Elementary Education from Florida Atlantic University and is currently working toward a Master’s Degree in Special Education Studies at Florida State University. She has served on the test writing committee for the subject area (Hearing Impaired) portion of the Florida Teacher Certification Exam.  She has taught American Sign Language for teachers and parents and offers inservices both in-person and through technology for teachers who are in her district. In her free time, Sherry enjoys photography and serving in the Deaf ministry at her church. She is supported by her husband of fifteen years, eight year-old daughter and six year-old son. 

Leanne Grillot joined the Bureau of Exceptional Education and Student Services (BEESS) staff of the Florida Department of Education in March 2011 as the contact person for programs serving students who are visually impaired, deaf/hard-of-hearing, and dual-sensory impaired.  Mrs. Grillot has extensive experience as a special educator, beginning her career as a teacher of the visually impaired over 18 years ago.  In 2006 she moved to the Flagler County School district where she served as the coordinator of the programs serving students with vision impairments and who are deaf/hard-of-hearing.  Additionally, she was a local assistive technology specialist, was the district co-coordinator for the Florida Alternate Assessment, and was the National Instructional Materials Access Standard Digital Rights manager.  Mrs. Grillot is the BEESS project liaison for the
Resource Materials and Technology Center for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing (RMTC-DHH), the Educational Interpreters Project (EIP), Outreach Services for the Blind/Visually Impaired and Deaf/Hard of Hearing (OSBD), Learning Through Listening (LTL), Critical Initiatives in Visual Impairments (CIVI), and the Florida Instructional Materials Center for the Visually Impaired (FIMC-VI) She is also the activity liaison for the Florida Summit on Childhood Deafness and the National Agenda for the Deaf/Hard-of-Hearing.

Cindy Hebbeler has been profoundly deaf since birth. Raised with an oral approach, she has been signing for more than thirty years and using a cochlear implant for the last eight. She received her Bachelor of Arts in English and Secondary from Pace University and a Masters of Science in Deaf Education from Hunter College. After moving to Florida she taught in Pinellas County until joining the staff at the Family Center on Deafness, a not-for-profit agency. She is currently the literacy specialist and works closely with families on promoting literacy and work collaboratively with the school system teachers. She has been a guest lecturer at local colleges and universities, a workshop presenter at conventions and organizations, a facilitator and presenter in parent support groups, the director of a residential summer camp for deaf and hard of hearing children and teenagers, a speech-reading instructor, Shared Reading Project Tutor, and an adjunct professor at the University of South Florida.  She has also authored articles for professional publications and been recognized as the Wal-Mart Teacher of the Year, Top Ten Teachers of the Year in Pinellas County, Paul B. Stephens Exceptional Teacher of the Year, National Teacher of the Year Honor Roll, Pace University’s Alumna of the Year, Hunter Hall of Fame, and 1980 New York State Teacher of the Year.  She has created literacy materials for the Professional Development course through the Department of Education.

Carmelina Hollingsworth is the Coordinator of the Resource Materials & Technology Center for the Deaf/Hard of Hearing (RMTC) and Outreach Services for the Blind and Deaf (OSBD) both housed at FSDB.  Prior to these roles, she was the Distribution Manager at RMTC and oversaw all captioning and marketing efforts.  She is a graduate of Ashford University with a BA in Organizational Management.  She is a member of the Statewide Multi-Tiered System of Supports Committee. She has an elementary aged son who learns differently and is the PTO President at her older son’s middle school. She enjoys seeing the processes within the field from both professional and personal perspectives.

Ilene Horowitz-Ray graduated Trenton State College, Trenton, New Jersey with her Bachelor of Science Degree in 1983 and Florida International University, Miami, Florida with a Master’s of Special Education in 1996.  She has taught in Miami-Dade County for the past 27 years.  She is a National Board Certified teacher of Deaf/HH students.   She began her career in 1983 working with students at Gulfstream Elementary School, and then opened a program for Deaf/HH middle school students with multiple disabilities at Cutler Ridge Middle School in 1996; presently she is teaching Deaf/HH third-fifth graders at Miami Lakes K-8 Center.

Mark Keith is the Training Coordinator for Parents and Families at Outreach Services for the Blind and the Deaf, and for FDLRS RMTC.  Mark has been in this position for 7+ years.  He presents numerous workshops around Florida every year.  He also edits the Directories of Services for Families of Children who are Deaf or Blind annually and provides information and referral services for parents, teachers, and other professionals across Florida.  He writes regularly on parent issues in his blog, Parent Perspectives in Special Education www.eseparents.blogspot.com.  Mark is also the father of a 20-year-old son who is in his second year at Saint Johns River State College and is deaf and has coreoathetoid cerebral palsy.

Dr. Ted Lombardo is a licensed psychologist who works at the Florida School for the Deaf and Blind and maintains an independent practice in Jacksonville, FL. He has 23 years of experience in a variety of clinical and educational settings. He enjoys consulting, giving presentations and teaching about topics related to deafness, psychological evaluation, interventions for adolescents and families, and clinical mental health issues.

Mandy Longo graduated from the University of Florida with a BA in Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology, and went on to receive her MS in Speech-Language Pathology from Gallaudet University.  She has been working with Deaf and hard-of-hearing children and adults for 12 years in a variety of settings. She currently works at Boone High School, which houses the D/HH program for OCPS high school students, and she is also the Child & Family Program Coordinator for Florida Hands & Voices, which is a non-profit organization that supports deaf and hard-of-hearing children and their families.

Alissa Matiya is a middle school teacher for Deaf and Hard of Hearing students in Pinellas County.  She taught three years at Cross Bayou Elementary School and is in her second year at Morgan Fitzgerald Middle School.  As a DHH educator, she has taught resource, co-taught in general education classrooms, and is currently teaching in a self-contained classroom using Kristin DiPerri strategies.  She obtained her bachelors degree in Deaf Education and masters degree in English Education.  While her professional career started in Florida, she did internships in schools for the deaf in the states of Texas and Illinois and in mainstream schools.

Dr. Connie Mayer is an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Education at York University in Toronto, Canada where she works in the graduate programs in both Education and Linguistics, and in the teacher preparation program in the education of Deaf and Hard of Hearing (D/HH) students. Prior to joining York, Dr. Mayer worked for more than twenty years in the field as a consultant, administrator and teacher at both schools for the deaf and in school boards. She is currently an Associate Editor for the Volta Review and serves on the editorial board of the Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education and the American Annals of the Deaf. Her current research focuses on written language and literacy development in D/HH learners, early literacy and early intervention, cochlear implantation, bilingualism and models of teacher education. She has authored numerous journal articles and book chapters on these topics, and presented at more than ninety national and international conferences. In 2007, her article "Can the Linguistic Interdependence Theory support a Bilingual-Bicultural Model of Literacy Education for Deaf Students?" published in the Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education was selected by Oxford University Press as one of the seminal papers published in the past century. 

Virgi Mills, M.E.D. (Masters in Education of the Deaf) is currently a Pre-Kindergarten teacher in the Duval County Public Schools for the Auditory-Oral program and a board member of the AG Bell Florida chapter. Having personally experienced hearing loss for most of her life, Virgi is now a bi-lateral cochlear implant user. Virgi also represents MED-EL at various events to answer questions regarding cochlear implants both as a Teacher of the Deaf and as a cochlear implant user. Virgi finds that intentional teaching of social emotional skills promotes a healthy and supportive learning environment for greater language gains among her students with hearing loss.

Brian Newton began his study of deaf education at Flagler College, where he graduated with a degree in Deaf Education/Elementary Education. He is currently pursuing a Masters degree in Deaf education at the University of North Florida and a Masters degree in Educational Technology at the University of Central Florida. He taught Science, Language Arts, and Social Studies in the 7th grade at the Florida School for the Deaf and the Blind for 6 years. Currently, he is in his 3rd year at the Resource Materials and Technology Center where he is a Training and Research Consultant.

Michelle Pearson grew up in Arizona.  She received an MA from Gallaudet University in Deaf Ed. After teaching in Deaf Ed for 10 years, and ASL for 3, she became a Deaf-Blind Specialist for the FL Outreach Project for Children and Young Adults Who Are Deaf-Blind.  For the past 6 years, she has been working with school systems, families, audiologists, and various agencies that work with deaf-blind children (ages 0-22), as well as training interpreters on the different aspects of Deaf-Blind interpreting and/or becoming an intervener.  She has presented at the RID Region II conference, as well as a variety of meetings and conferences throughout the state of Florida.  Michelle helped establish the FRID Deaf-Blind SIG in 2008 and is the RID Region II Rep for the RID Deaf-Blind Member Section (DBMS).

Krista Phelps-Elliott is a teacher of the deaf and hard of hearing at Altamonte Elementary School in Seminole County. She has worked in this capacity for the past 26 years. Krista is responsible for teaching all academic subjects to her students, preparing them for Florida’s FCAT and middle school. Krista received her B.A. in Deaf Education and Mental Retardation from Flagler College and received her QA3 interpreting qualification in 2002. Krista was selected as Seminole County Teacher of the Year in 1990 and has supervised college interns from Flagler College, the University of North Florida and Rochester Institute of Technology.

Lynne Price is an itinerant teacher currently working in Raleigh. NC.  She is a National Board certified teacher with 35 years of teaching experience.  She is certified in the areas of Hearing Impaired, K – 12 Regular Education, and Reading. She has worked in both residential and public school, preschool through high school, and in all settings separate through itinerant.  She is fluent in sign language and cued speech and is trained in auditory verbal techniques.  In addition to teaching, Ms Price has served as an administrator for hearing impaired services in the 18^th largest school system in the nation, mentored staff, and developed programming and curriculum. She has presented regional and national workshops on topics related to hearing loss. Currently, she is contracted by the NC State Department of Public Instruction to conduct statewide training for staff serving students with hearing loss and is a member of the state task force for the National Agenda for Achieving Educational Equality for D/HH students.

Shannon Simon has been in the field of deaf education and interpreter preparation for over 30 years.  Her name is synonymous with excellent hands-on professional development activities. She is well known in the educational interpreting field because of her connection to the Educational Interpreter Project, a statewide project funded by the Florida Department of Education.  This project, with Shannon in the lead, has been providing professional development for sign language interpreters and oral transliterators working in public schools since 1990. She holds both sign language and oral certificates from RID, a Masters degree from Florida State University in Deaf Education, and has completed advanced work in Administration and Supervision at the University of North Florida.

Dr. Linda Spencer is an assistant professor in the Department of Communication Disorders at New Mexico State University in Las Cruces, NM. She was an assistant professor for 3 years at State University of NY in Geneseo, until the department was deactivated by the College President. She was an Investigator on the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics Children's Cochlear Implant Project where she was an assistant research scientist and a research assistant for over a decade. Her research interests include examining the speech, language and literacy development of children with hearing loss and also those who use cochlear implants. She earned her bachelor's and PhD degrees in speech and hearing science at the University of Iowa. Her current line of research involves examining the relationship of phonology, language and cognitive skills, with the reading abilities in children with normal hearing and in children with hearing loss. She has over 20 publications that have appeared in Journals such as Ear and Hearing, Journal of Speech-Language-Hearing Research, Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education, Laryngoscope, and the American Journal of Audiology.

Heather Stanaland graduated from Flagler College with her bachelor’s degree in Deaf Education and Mental Disabilities. Heather has been teaching in Duval County for 29 years. Her first 3 years were in the Total Communication class at Forrest High School. She taught one year in the auditory oral class at Sandalwood Jr./Sr. High School. Since 1988 she has worked as an itinerant teacher. A large majority of her students have had significant intellectual disabilities and/or dual sensory impairments in addition to their hearing loss. Heather has been committed to finding instructional strategies to give ALL students access to communication. In addition, she has a son with an autistic spectrum disorder. She has utilized visual support systems on both a personal and professional level.

Gail Strassel is the Director of Early Learning at the Florida School for the Deaf and the Blind.  She has worked with families and their children who are deaf or hard of hearing as a preschool teacher and home visitor in Texas, North Carolina and Fort Lauderdale prior to becoming the Coordinator of the Parent Infant Program for Families with Children who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing at FSDB.  She earned her M.Ed. in Deaf Education at the University of Northern Colorado and has studied Family-Centered Intervention at Gallaudet University.  She is a national trainer for SKI-HI – a curriculum for families with infants and young children who are deaf or hard of hearing.

Emily Taylor-Snell is Project Coordinator for the Florida Outreach Project serving students and young adults who are deaf-blind. She fulfills multiple essential roles, providing technical assistance to families, groups and in educational settings, and leading FOP's interagency collaborations. Emily also coordinates and provides services to the US Virgin Islands under a subcontract for dual sensory loss through the US Department of Education, Office of Special Education programs. She serves on Florida’s committee for the National Agenda for Vision Services, co-trains with DOE and FIMCVI staff on a project to build local capacity for vision programs and is assisting with the training of school teams for the screening for Usher Syndrome.  Emily collaborates with seven state deaf-blind projects and the National Consortium for Deaf-Blindness to conduct SE Region Transition Institutes for teens and their families. Emily joined the FOP after holding the Project Coordinator position for a federally funded deaf-blind project serving Ohio and Wisconsin for 11 years. In Ohio, she provided staff development for a county board on mental retardation and developmental disabilities and taught Advanced Behavior Management for Students with Multiple Handicaps at the University of Dayton. She also served on numerous committees for brain injury, vision and hearing, early intervention and transition. She is also a state trainer for SKI*HI, INSITE and VIISA early intervention curriculum models. In her native California, she worked for the State Department of Education conducting educational assessments. She also has 10 years of teaching experience with students who have mild to severe disabilities with a school district in San Diego. She received both her Bachelor and Master degrees from the University of San Diego.

Cara Wilmot graduated from Flagler College with her bachelor’s degree in Deaf Education and Elementary Education. She received a Master’s in Disability Services from the University of North Florida.  Cara has been teaching in Duval County for 14 years. Her first 6 years were in an auditory oral classroom at Landmark Middle School and the last 8 years have been as an itinerant teacher. In 2009 she became the lead teacher for the itinerant program. Cara is a trainer for iTransition and enjoys teaching her colleagues how to use this program with their students. In 2009 and 2010, she organized the Florida Itinerant Roundtable Discussions.