Trainers

Terri Foster received her Master of Science in Occupational Therapy from Tufts University in Medford, MA. She has over 20 years of experience providing pediatric occupational therapy services in hospitals, schools, and private practice. She lives in Northborough, MA where she provides contracted occupational therapy services to local schools and private handwriting tutoring. Terri is Level 1 Certified and has used the LWT curriculum throughout her years as an OT in a variety of school and private settings. The incredible success she has seen her students achieve using LWT motivated her to become a Certified National Workshop Presenter with Learning Without Tears. She has been enjoying teaching others the LWT curriculum through presenting both school based and national workshops for Learning Without Tears since 2008.

Roxanne Thompson received her Bachelor of Science in Occupational Therapy from Texas Woman’s University in 1998. She has practiced OT in the public schools, early intervention, and currently a private pediatric out-patient clinic. She also provides handwriting tutoring services to children in pre-school through middle school. She completed her Level 1 certification in March 2007 and has been presenting for Learning Without Tears since 2009. Roxanne lives in Frisco with her husband and 2 children.

Cheryl Lundy Swift is a 1993 graduate of the University of Virginia, where she double majored in Sociology and Rhetoric & Communication Studies. She received a Master of Education in Administration & Supervision from Virginia Commonwealth University. Cheryl is currently pursuing her doctorate in Educational Leadership from Kean University in Union, NJ.

Cheryl has been a dedicated educator for over 20 years. Cheryl has worked in leadership and executive roles for various educational organizations including public schools, post-secondary institutions, and education companies including several leading tutoring and supplemental education service companies. Cheryl is the founder and CEO of EduPower, an education consulting firm that empowers school and business leaders, teachers, parents, and students to reach their fullest potential through professional development, coaching and curriculum. Cheryl is an award winning educational leader, curriculum developer, motivational speaker and trainer. She has developed and delivered leadership, team building, and a variety of instructional topics to help transform leadership teams and instructional practices to improve culture and climate, instructional effectiveness, parent involvement and student outcomes for thousands of school leaders and teachers across the country. She has designed, developed and delivered literacy and math curriculum to benefit thousands of students, teachers and parents across the country. She served as the Lead Curriculum Developer for Learning Without Tears’ Get Set for School’s Language and Literacy curriculum, which received an AEP Distinguished Achievement award. In 2017, Cheryl was awarded the Investor Bank’s Educator of the Year Award.

While Cheryl continues to support schools around the country, most recently, Cheryl took on a principalship of one of her clients, Summit Academy Charter School in Brooklyn, New York. She led turnaround efforts to improve the overall school culture, parental involvement and state assessment scores. Summit Academy Charter School has recently received national attention on the Ellen DeGeneres Show where Ellen DeGeneres and Walmart awarded the school $25,000 and the biggest award ever given by the Ellen DeGeneres Show- 4 year scholarships for the entire senior Class of 2017. Ellen DeGeneres and Walmart have continued to pour into Summit Academy and its scholars by following six of Summit Academy’s scholars to college. Cheryl has appeared on the Ellen DeGeneres show five times.

Cheryl enjoys playing golf, singing, dancing, reading, traveling and spending quality time with her family and friends. Cheryl resides in New Jersey with her husband, Hassan. They are proud parents of their nephew, Sid and their calico cat, Dashboard.

Vanessa Silver is the owner of Silver Lining Educational Services, Inc. She has a private practice as a Board Certified Educational Therapist in Los Angeles and is a former resource specialist with LAUSD. She has earned and maintains her Multiple Subject (General) Education and Special Education (Mild/Moderate) Credentials and holds a Resource Specialist Certificate in California. As Certified level member of the Academy of Orton-Gillingham Practitioners and Educators (AOGPE) and Structured Literacy Dyslexia Specialist with The International Dyslexia Associate (IDA), her extensive background in the field of reading disabilities, dysgraphia, and educational assessment is being furthered as she works toward her Fellowship with AOGPE. She homeschools and remediates children with cognitive and specific learning disabilities as well as assesses. She has been in the education field since 1998 and served on the local and national boards of the California Association of Resource Specialists (CARS+), Council for Exceptional Children (CEC), and Association for Educational Therapists (AET). She is listed in Who’s Who in American Education. Vanessa has proudly been presenting all levels of workshops nationally and internationally for Handwriting Without Tears® since 2000.

Tania Ferrandino received her BS/Diploma in Occupational therapy from St. Loye’s school of Occupational Therapy in Exeter, England. Tania is employed by Learning Without Tears® as a Program Specialist and National Workshop Presenter. She is considered a subject matter expert and has worked on creating content for teacher guides, student workbooks and hands-on products. Tania is also responsible for adapting and creating content for webinars, school-based trainings and sponsored trainings. Prior to this position she was an occupational therapist in the school system, working extensively with children of all ages and abilities.

Melissa McHugh is a Special Education teacher in Joshua, Texas. Melissa holds a BFA from Auburn University and a Master’s Degree in Educational Leadership from the University of Texas at Arlington. She is a certified teacher for both general and special education and has worked with kids of all abilities, both in small groups and in the large classroom setting. She was named Burleson Independent School District Support Staff Member of the Year in 2011 and was Teacher of the Year at her campus in 2011, 2014, and 2016. She was named Teacher of the Year in 2018 at Caddo Grove Elementary. In 1999, Melissa began using Handwriting Without Tears with her students with special needs and now works with General Education teachers to bring it into their classrooms as well. When not in the classroom, Melissa and her husband, Chris, can be found on the football and soccer fields, or at Rodeo Competitions cheering on their two boys, Wesley and Nick. When at home, Melissa enjoys HGTV, crafts, reading, and taking care of all the family pets (including: dogs, munchkin cats, fish, tortoises, a rat, and a horse!) Melissa loves the Handwriting Without Tears Program and how it changed how she teaches in the classroom, and looks forward to sharing it with you!