Advisory Council

IDA-UMB relies on a group of experts and scholars in the areas of research, intervention, diagnosis & assessment, remediation and related fields to advise and counsel the board on matters that may come before it, including research, best practices and public policy.

The Advisory Council is comprised of not more than 12 members. Advisory Council positions are not paid positions. Council members are elected for a five-year term, after which they may be re-elected for as many terms as the board deems necessary. 

In general, the IDA-UMB Advisory Council helps keep the board abreast of industry trends or changes in various fields of expertise, offers advice and counsel, offers support at IDA-UMB-sponsored events whenever possible, and keeps up-to-date on board meetings and agendas. More often than not, Advisory Council members have played active roles in IDA-UMB, and are well-versed in local matters of importance relating to dyslexia.

IDA-UMB Advisory Council

John Alexander 
John Alexander is currently the Head of School at Groves Academy, a private school (grades 1-12) for students diagnosed with dyslexia or related language-based learning differences located in St. Louis Park, Minn. Prior to coming to Groves in July, 2005, Alexander served as Head of The Greenwood School, a boarding school for boys diagnosed with dyslexia. He also headed The Chartwell School, a K-8 school for dyslexic students in Seaside, California. Alexander holds a Master’s degree in Reading and Language Disabilities from Harvard University. He has taught graduate-level classes in the structures of language and in diagnostic-prescriptive teaching and has given a number of talks at national, state, and local conferences. Alexander recently served on the Minnesota Board of Teaching’s State Reading Task Force and was instrumental in the creation of new reading rules to better prepare teachers to teach literacy skills to struggling and emerging readers.

C. Wilson Anderson, Jr.
Mr. Anderson has spent 28 years as a junior and senior high English and social studies teacher in suburban Minneapolis, Minnesota. He received his BA from St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota, and his Master's in special education at Augustana College in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. 

Anderson is one of the LD pioneers in Minnesota and in 1968 taught an LD English Class for English credit. He has been honored by the Minnesota Association for Children with Learning Disabilities as a General Educator of the Year, and by the Upper Midwest Branch of the International Dyslexia Association. In 1997 he received the “Samuel T. Orton Award” from the International Dyslexia Association, and the “Outstanding Professional Award” from the Kansas Learning Disabilities Association. He was a founding member and Past-President of the Kansas/Western Missouri Branch of IDA.

He is a past president of the International Dyslexia Association. For five years he was an LD Specialist and Director of Teacher Education for the Menninger Clinic's Center for Learning Disabilities. For six years he co-chaired The Kansas Governor's Task Force on Adult Literacy and Learning Disabilities, and for three years, was the Technical Support Person for the Kansas Attention Deficit Disorder Training Project. Currently, he is a consultant in private practice.

Anderson is on the advisory council for four private schools for dyslexic students, and serves on the Board of Trustees for the Kildonan School in Amenia, New York. He served three terms on the Board of Directors of the Topeka Literacy Council. He is a Fellow, Academy of Orton-Gillingham Practitioners and Educators.

He is the parent of three adult children, two of whom are language learning disabled.

Winnelle D. Carpenter
Winnelle Carpenter has taught in both public and private schools in Minnesota. As an educational consultant in private practice, she specializes in providing academic therapy, coaching and mentoring for individuals with learning disabilities and at-risk learners. Extensively trained in learning styles and brain-compatible instruction, Winnelle teaches specific methods, instructional and activity learning strategies that enable at-risk learners to succeed. As a keynote speaker for numerous conferences for over 30 years, Winnelle has presented workshops to school districts, colleges, community service organizations and parent and youth groups throughout the country. She is a former board member of IDA-UMB and the recipient of WCCO-TV and WLTE Radio's "Working Woman of the Year" award, as well as the Spurgeon Award, given by the citizens of St. Paul, for her exceptional career achievements and outstanding community service. Winnelle is a researcher, author of the curriculum Become Your Own Expert!, and owner of Powerful Learning Concepts in Brooklyn Park, Minn.

Amanda Fields
Dr. Amanda Fields specializes in child development and works to evaluate children with cognitive, emotional and neurological difficulties at Park Nicollet Alexander Center in Eden Prairie, Minn. She holds a Ph.D. in educational psychology from the University of Minnesota, an MA from University of Illinois, and received her undergraduate degree at St. Olaf College. Fields is a member of the American Psychological Association, the National Association of School Psychologists, and the International Neuropsychological Society, and is particularly interested in the identification and implementation of effective interventions for struggling children. 

Mary Platt
Mary Platt, M.A., has held dual Minnesota certification in Learning Disabilities and Elementary Education. She taught in public schools as a classroom teacher for three years and as an LD teacher for eight years. She has four children, three of whom have learning disabilities. She has training in the Orton-Gillingham Approach for teaching reading and writing skills, which she has used for over 29 years. Platt has been a board member and president IDA-UMB and is currently a board member and instructor for Orton-Gillingham of Minnesota, where, as an adjunct faculty member of Hamline University Graduate School, she teaches classes to train teachers in O-G. She also works with LD students in private practice.

Arlene Sonday
Arlene Sonday, author, educational consultant and speaker has been teaching struggling readers, including those with dyslexia, for more than 40 years.

Sonday is an adjunct instructor at Hamline University in Minnesota, and has taught graduate courses at Fairleigh Dickinson University in New Jersey and numerous other universities and colleges. She is listed in Who's Who in American Women in Education. She is a founding fellow and first president of the Academy of Orton-Gillingham Practitioners and Educators, on the Advisory Board of the Fairleigh Dickinson Dyslexia Specialist Certificate program, a founding member and board member of Orton-Gillingham Minnesota, past vice president of The International Dyslexia Association, past president of The International Dyslexia Association – Upper Midwest Branch, and past member of the advisory council of the Scottish Rite Children's Learning Centers.

Sonday recently received the Margaret Byrd Rawson Lifetime Achievement Award given by the International Dyslexia Association in 2009 and the 2008 award as Outstanding MSLE Professional from International Multisensory Structured Language Education Council (IMSLEC). In 2009, Fairleigh Dickinson University established the Arlene Sonday Award for Excellence in Teaching, given annually to a teacher who has earned the FDU Dyslexia Specialist Certificate and brought the program into his/her public school system.

She is the author of the Sonday System, four curricula, published by Winsor Learning for preschool, emergent and intermediate readers

Christine Stern
Chris Stern is a writer who has worked in advertising and corporate communications for more than 35 years. When her children were diagnosed with dyslexia, her mother-in-law, June Stern, revealed her suspicion that she had dyslexia, as well. June’s quest to learn about her challenges and then her determination to help struggling young readers led to the formation of The June Stern Family Foundation for Children with Dyslexia, a small nonprofit dedicated to supporting K-3 general and special educators in the Twin Cities metro area with professional development in Orton-Gillingham teaching methods. As president of the foundation (www.junesternfoundaton.org), Chris helps to carry on June’s vision. Chris authored “Accommodating Differences” for Lawlor Perspective, a series of white papers exploring issues in higher education. The study, which looked at colleges and universities that welcome students with learning disabilities, was abridged in The Lawlor Review, a journal for senior administrators in higher education. Her article “To Test or Not to Test,” also published in The Lawlor Review, examined the role of standardized testing in education.