About Us

LDOnLine.org is a service of WETA-TV, the flagship public broadcasting service in Washington, D.C. WETA is the second-largest producing station for PBS. WETA’s national productions and co-productions include PBS NewsHour, Washington Week, and documentaries by filmmakers Ken Burns and Professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr.

Elizabeth Campbell, the founder of WETA, once said that there are three great educational institutions in this country: public schools, public libraries, and public television. Our long-term commitment to education is realized through national services that focus on making learning available to all. In addition to AdLit.org,  WETA’s Learning Media division has developed and now operates four other award-winning educational multimedia services:

Reading Rockets

Reading Rockets looks at how young children learn to read, why so many struggle, and what we can do to help them. The website includes an archive of articles, a free online professional development course on reading, video interviews with top children’s authors, a daily headline service, blogs, bilingual parent tips, and much more. The Reading Rockets project also encompasses programs produced for PBS, including A Tale of Two Schools and the the 10-part Launching Young Readers series.

Colorín Colorado

Colorín Colorado is a bilingual website (in English and Spanish) designed for the parents and educators of English language learners. The website gives Spanish-speaking parents a wealth of information in their native language and gives teachers the information they need to be more effective in working with children for whom English is a second language.

AdLit (all about adolescent literacy)

AdLit is a national multimedia project that provides educators and families with resources to lift struggling readers and writers in middle school and high school.

Start with a Book

Start with a Book provides parents, caregivers, summer program staff and librarians free resources to engage kids with reading, writing, exploring, and building knowledge about the world. Start with a Book pairs 24 kid-friendly topics with books, hands-on-activities, writing ideas, podcasts, websites, and other resources to deepen learning. The project also offers a variety of STEAM toolkits (Bird Buddies, River Rangers, and Space Rangers) and activity guides on trailblazers, civic engagement, multicultural storytelling, and more.

Sign up to receive the LD OnLine monthly newsletter and weekly headlines. You can also subscribe to newsletters, tip sheets, blogs, and headlines from our other education sites.

LD OnLine is privileged to have had experts in the field of learning disabilities contribute regular columns. They touch upon subjects that range from assessment and testing to social skills.

Landmark School and Landmark Outreach

Teachers at the renowned Landmark School — for children with language-based learning disabilities — provide classroom-tested and immediately useful strategies to meet diverse students’ needs. 

View articles by Landmark Staff

PowerUp WHAT WORKS

Evidence-based practices, technology, and personalized learning to help teachers and administrators support standards-based learning. Learn ways to enhance teaching and learning through best practices supported by the innovative use of technology. 

View articles by PowerUp

Dale S. Brown

Dale S. Brown is a tireless advocate for people who have learning disabilities. Her articles offer tips for adults with learning disabilities, as well as ideas for teachers and parents.

View articles by Dale S. Brown

Rick Lavoie

Rick Lavoie is a popular author and speaker on how to support children with special needs. He is best known for his video, “How Difficult Can This Be?”. See his insightful columns for teachers and the parents they work with.

View articles by Richard Lavoie

Dr. Louise Spear-Swerling

Louise Spear-Swerling is Professor of Special Education and Reading at Southern Connecticut State University. See her research-based and information-full columns on teaching students with learning disabilities.

View articles by Louise Spear-Swerling

Regina G. Richards

Regina G. Richards is an educational therapist and author. Read her articles, which are full of practical advice for teachers and the parents they work with on how to motivate and accommodate children with learning disabilities.

View articles by Regina G. Richards

LD OnLine gratefully acknowledges the support of our funders. We particularly want to thank the National Education Association for its current support of LD OnLine.

We would also like to thank our past funders, for it is their confidence and generosity which makes our site today possible.

• Lindamood-Bell Learning Processes 
• American Legion Child Welfare Foundation(opens in a new window) 
• Armstrong McDonald Foundation(opens in a new window) 
• Charles Lafitte Foundation(opens in a new window)
• Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB)(opens in a new window)
• The Eisner Foundation(opens in a new window)
• Emily Hall Tremaine Foundation(opens in a new window)
• McKenna, Long & Aldridge
• NEC Foundation of America(opens in a new window)
• Mitsubishi Electric American Foundation(opens in a new window)
• Schwab Foundation for Learning(opens in a new window)

LD OnLine is a proud founding partner of Understood(opens in a new window), a free online resource for parents of children with learning and attention issues.

LD OnLine is also a partner of the following organizations:

• Center for Implementing Technology in Education(opens in a new window)
• Center on Technology and Disability(opens in a new window)
• Division for Learning Disabilities (DLD) of the Council for Exceptional Children(opens in a new window)
• The International Dyslexia Association(opens in a new window)
• National Center for Learning Disabilities(opens in a new window)
• National Center for Technology Innovation(opens in a new window)
• National Dissemination Center for Children with Disabilities
• National Joint Committee on Learning Disabilities(opens in a new window)

Noel Gunther

Noel Gunther, Vice President, Learning Media at WETA, has overseen LD OnLine since its inception. Noel has broad experience in radio, television, print, and the Internet. He has co-written and co-produced award-winning documentaries for NPR and Public Radio International, including: Good Morning Vietnam with Adrian Cronauer (Gold Award, Best Culture/Arts Program, International Radio Festival of New York; Ohio State Award); American Voices: Norman Corwin with Charles Kuralt (Grand Award, Best Documentary Program, International Radio Festival of New York); Gray Matters: Depression with Mike Wallace (Gold Award, International Radio Festival of New York); and Drugs, Alcohol and the Brain (Gold Cindy Award, best documentary; Grand Award, Best Informational Program, International Radio Festival of New York).

For television, Noel’s work includes the PBS documentary A Tale of Two Schools, narrated by Morgan Freeman, and the five-part public TV series Exploring Your Brain. For the Internet, Gunther has overseen the development and operation of LD OnLine, Reading Rockets, AdLit.org, Start With a Book, and BrainLine.org. created and developed the LD OnLine website, which since 1996 has been the leading website in the field of learning disabilities. LD OnLine won a Clarion Award in 1998 as the best nonprofit website in the country. Gunther is co-author of Beyond Boardwalk and Park Place (Bantam Books), which was named by the New York Public Library as one of the best young adult books of the year. He has also written for The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Village Voice, Washingtonian, American Journalism Review, and many other publications. He is a graduate of Yale University and Harvard Law School.

Christian Lindstrom

Christian is the director of WETA Learning Media  where her work includes developing television programs, websites, and print materials about reading, learning disabilities, mental health, and brain science. Her work on A Tale of Two Schools included directing, writing, and offline editing.

Previously, Christian worked as coordinating producer for Exploring Your Brain with Garrick Utley: The Brain-Body Connection, winner of the Gold International CINDY Award; and for Exploring Your Brain: Stress, Trauma, and the Brain, winner of a Time Inc. International Health and Medical Film Festival Award, a Silver CINDY Award, and the James and Sarah Brady Award for Public Service from the Brain Injury Association; and as associate producer for the three-part series Exploring Your Brain with Garrick Utley, winner of the 1998 National Alliance for the Mentally Ill’s Outstanding Broadcast Media Award for Science.

Christian previously served as production coordinator for the television program Look What You’ve Done! with Dr. Robert Brooks, about learning disabilities and self-esteem, and for When the Chips Are Down… with Richard Lavoie, about learning disabilities and discipline. Lindstrom also played a significant role in developing LD OnLine, WETA’s award-winning learning disabilities website.

Carrie Simkin, PhD

Carrie is the director of AdLit.org. Prior to joining WETA, Carrie served as a faculty member and director of the University of Virginia’s School of Education and Human Development, Master of Education in Reading program in Northern Virginia. Her research interests focused on preventing and remediating reading difficulties and disabilities, striving adolescent readers and language minority learners.

Carrie has a strong background in curriculum development and instructional design with a passion for teaching and problem solving. Prior to her academic career, Carrie was a research associate at RMC Research where she provided technical assistance to states and large urban districts, conducted program evaluations, and designed professional learning series at the local, state and federal levels. Her previous years as a teacher and Reading Specialist continue to ground her work to support schools where academic success is possible for all students through a culture of excellence. 

Tina Chovanec

Tina Chovanec is the director of Reading Rockets and led the AdLit.org website relaunch in 2021. She has more than 20 years of experience in non-profit project management and communications, including work as a writer, editor, print and web designer, and creative director. Since 2007, Tina has guided the development of new research-based resources on ReadingRockets.org, and spearheaded significant growth in audience through partnerships and outreach, syndication, and social media. In 2012, Tina launched a companion literacy initiative, Start with a Book, an online and on-the-ground project designed to keep children reading, talking, and exploring during the summer. Reading Rockets has received numerous national awards for its television programs and websites, including recognition by the Library of Congress Literacy Awards program, Parents’ Choice, and the American Library Association.

Prior to working at WETA, Tina was the director of print and web publications at Oregon State University, where she led the development of award-winning communications for the university, academic colleges and departments, research centers, and the K-12 outreach program. Tina has an undergraduate degree from Brown University and an MFA in communication design from Virginia Commonwealth University. She has been a volunteer in public elementary schools and afterschool literacy programs in Virginia and Oregon.

Lydia Breiseth 

Lydia Breiseth is the director of Colorín Colorado, which is a part of the Learning Media division of WETA.  In this capacity, Ms. Breiseth manages editorial content, multimedia production, partnerships, and outreach for the website. Ms. Breiseth has presented Colorín Colorado’s resources at a number of national conferences, including TESOL, NABE, CABE, NAEYC, OELA, the AFT’s TEACH Conference, and the Latino Children’s Book Conference. Ms. Breiseth has published articles on a variety of educational and literacy blogs on behalf of Colorín Colorado.

Ms. Breiseth has taught both English and Spanish as foreign languages and spent a year in Ecuador teaching English to graduate students with the educational exchange program WorldTeach. Ms. Breiseth received her Bachelor’s Degree in English with a Minor in Latin American Studies from Cornell University in Ithaca, NY. She lives in Arlington, VA with her husband and daughter.

Ashley Gilleland

Ashley is the Senior Digital Producer at WETA Learning Media. She has produced and written award-winning programs for the Reading Rockets Launching Young Readers series and has an in-depth knowledge of the Drupal content management system.

LD OnLine has received numerous awards and recognitions. Here are some highlights:

• Excellence in Special Education Award from the National Association of Special Education Teachers
• Five stars from Tufts University’s prestigious Child and Family Web guide
• Clarion Award for best nonprofit web site in the country
• “USA Today” Hot Site
• Gold Cindy award for excellence in K-12 education

LD OnLine
WETA
3939 Campbell Avenue
Arlington, VA 22206

E-mail: [email protected]

We appreciate your interest in LD OnLine.

Since we receive a large number of e-mails, we cannot write individual responses, although we wish we could do so. We read all of our mail and listen to our readers to ensure our material helps you improve the lives of people with learning disabilities.

If you are writing us with a specific inquiry regarding a person with learning disabilities, please review the website carefully as we have tried to anticipate your questions. We encourage you to review our questions and answers section and our expert advice section where you might find your answer. We also have hundreds of articles to help teachers guide children with learning disabilities.

Note: Messages are the property of WETA Learning Media. We reserve the right to excerpt or reprint comments on our sites in perpetuity at our sole discretion. If you would prefer your comments to be completely anonymous, please let us know in your message.

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You are welcome to print copies for personal use, or a limited number for educational purposes, as long as credit is given to LD OnLine and the author(s).

Because we get our articles from a variety of sources, please check the bottom of each article for more information about reprint permissions or restrictions.

If you have questions, please contact us at [email protected].