With Orton-Gillingham (OG) Principles as our basis, we have OG trained, and Certified instructors employed at Blueprint Learning. Each of our instructors has taught within the classroom and has a wide range of field experience. Our instructors have worked for and with numerous school systems, districts and private organizations as mentors, teachers and consultants. Blueprint has served clients from Greenwhich to East Haddam and as far as North Hartford. We have serviced clients within several different states including: Massachusettes, Vermont, New York, Virginia and Maryland. We are interested in helping all children to succeed in reading, writing and spelling.
Lisa Tweed FIT/OGA - Director, Instructor, Consultant
A teacher of thirty years and certified in the Orton-Gillingham Approach, Lisa has taught in both public and private elementary schools. A mother of four, Lisa offers understanding, compassion and an empathetic heart for students of all ages and abilities. Lisa graduated with a B.S. degree in Elementary Education with a specialization in Reading and has carried certifications in Pennsylvania, Virginia and Connecticut. Lisa studied under Susan Santora, Fellow of the Academy, earning her Associate and Certified level in O.G.. She is a member of both the Orton-Gillingham Academy and The International Dyslexic Association of America. She has worked at Amistad Academy in New Haven with dyslexic students instructing O.G. in small groups and in the classroom. Lisa currently owns and runs Blueprint Learning while consulting in both private and public schools within the New Haven area.
Beth Stone Fellow/OGA - Director of School Services and Consulting, Instructor, Consultant
Beth Stone is a graduate of Fairfield University with a Masters in Education and completed her undergraduate work at Alfred University earning a B.A. in English. She has continued her education with advanced courses in Speech and Language Pathology at Southern Connecticut State University; helping her to better understand the needs of her students. Beth is a certified K-6 teacher in the state of Connecticut and her previous experience includes instruction as a teacher in the public, private and charter schools. Her special interest is working as a private instructor to students with dyslexia. This has allowed her to work with students individually as well as working directly with teachers as a Reading Consultant within the local school systems. Beth's most recent experience was working as the Clinic Director of Learning House, an Orton-Gillingham clinic in Connecticut. She joins Blueprint Learning as a Certified Orton-Gillingham practitioner and a Fellow of the Academy so that she might train teachers in the OG Approach. Beth is a member of the Academy of Orton-Gillingham, the International Dyslexia Association and an alumnus of AmeriCorps.
Barbara Greenwald FIT/OGA - Tester, Instructor
Formerly a Reading teacher in the Florida school sysetem, Barbara attended Ohio State University and received her B.S. degree from Florida Atlantic University with graduate work in reading at the University of South Florida. After relocating to New England, she studied under Susan Santora, Fellow of the Academy of Orton-Gillingham, and is a Fellow in Training. Barbara has worked one-on-one with students of all ages at Learning House for thirteen years and with small groups at an Achievement First Middle School in New Haven. She is a member of the Orton-Gillingham Academy and The International Dyslexia Association. Barbara has raised four children and is presently the doting grandmother of a bevy of tiny tots who continously teach her how to process life joyfully in a quiet, patient, and mindful manner.
Martha Carsten Associate/OGA
Martha has been teaching Special Education in various capacities for twenty years and has taught in both the public and private sectors. She graduated with a B.S. degree in Special Education from Southern Connecticut State University and has completed a M.S. in Remedial Reading and an additional 33 credits in Reading and Language Arts from Central Connecticut State University. She is currently studying under Lisa and Beth, working toward a Certified Level Certification. Marth's daily schedule includes working with students with dyslexia in small groups and individually. She also works on teams to best plan for each student's unique learning needs.
Lauren Devin AIT/OGA
Lauren holds certification in Connecticut to teach English in grades 7-12 and Remedial Reading grades 1-12. She earned a B.A. in English Literature from UCONN, a Master's from Wesleyan, and her teaching certification from Rhode Island College. After seven years in the classroom teaching high school English, Lauren sought to better understand and treat the skill deficits that were preventing some of her students from achieving success in reading. Lauren decided to continue her professional studies by focusing on best practices in reading instruction. In addition to training with Blueprint Shoreline reading as she works toward Associate Level Orton-Gillingham certification, she is trained in various reading and language programs including the narrative based intervention tool Story Grammar Marker and Visualizing and Verbalizing. For the past nine years, Lauren has served as a reading interventionist in CT public schools, working with students from kindergarten through eighth grade.
Amanda Pluck Certified/OGA
Amanda lives in Guilford and is a mother of 3 wonderful kids who bring so much joy into her life. She has taught 10+ years as an elementary public school teacher in both PA and CT. Her teaching career has been in grades K-3. She holds both a Bachelors and a Masters degree in Elementary Education and has a CT teaching certification. In addition, she is a Certified Level Orton-Gillingham Practitioner. Working with students who benefit from OG has been her passion for the last 6 years. Prior to working at Blueprint Shoreline Reading Specialists, she worked at the Learning House in Guilford. Watching her students make progress and feel more confident as a reader inspires her teaching
Lori Kostopoulos AIT/OGA
Lori earned her Connecticut Teaching Certification for public school for grades K-6 from Southern CT State University and her Remedial Reading Certification for grades 1-12 from Sacred Heart University. Lori taught Transitional Kindergarten and First grade in the Bridgeport Public Schools for 5 years. She has been with the Monroe Public Schools for 17 years and is teaching first grade. An avid reader and learner, Lori’s passion is teaching her students to read and to impart the love of reading. Her desire to learn more about helping struggling readers has led her to Blueprint Shoreline Reading where she is in training and working toward Associate Level Orton-Gillingham Certification.
Betsy Kessler Associate/OGA
Betsy is a life-long learner. After educating her own children through 8th grade, she became interested in working with other children Three of her children are dyslexic which led her to explore a variety of reading resources. She became interested in the Orton-Gillingham (OG) Approach after using a OG inspired program for her struggling readers.Two of her children have been students of Blueprint which has allowed them to succeed in high school and college. OG’s systematic but flexible Approach worked very well for her sons. Seeing the results inspired Betsy to pursue her certification. She is certified at the Associate level and has a B.A. from Franciscan University and has completed some graduate coursework at Southern CT State University.
Sherry Baker AIT/OGA
A lover of words, education, and children, Sherry is formerly a high school language arts teacher for ACES Collaborative Magnet School. Since settling into motherhood with her two elementary school-aged sons, she enjoys opportunities to provide more individualized, multi-sensory instruction for students. She holds a Connecticut certification in English Secondary Education, with a B.S. in English, Secondary Ed. from Southern CT State University, and graduate studies in Reading and Curriculum from Grand Canyon University. For fifteen years, she has been teaching, tutoring, and mentoring students of preschool age through college, and believes it is her job to find the genius in every one. When she is not tutoring, she can be found experimenting in the kitchen, working on a new writing project, reading a book, accompanying her youth pastor husband on youth trips, or running around with her children. She is a member of the National Council of Teachers of English, and Writing Instruction, and International Reading Association.
Heidi Bridge AIT/OGA
Tara Tuttle AIT/OGA
Tara is an energetic and dedicated teacher. She loves learning and hopes to inspire others to love learning too. Tara earned a Master of Education Degree in Elementary Education 1-6 from Lesley University in Cambridge, MA. She completed her undergraduate work at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst receiving a Bachelor of Arts in Theater. Currently, she is working towards earning her Associate Level certification for the Academy of Orton-Gillingham Practitioners and Educators. She has worked in elementary schools as a classroom teacher, Title 1 teacher, Special Education paraprofessional and is a licensed educator in Connecticut for Elementary K-6. She is so excited to be working as a specialized tutor for Blueprint. She considers herself to be a lifelong learner, who is excited to help her students achieve their goals and more.
Janelle Stone AIT/OGA
