Authors

Roberta DePompei, Ph.D.

Roberta DePompei, Ph.D., is a Professor and Clinical Supervisor at the Audiology and Speech Center at the University of Akron in Ohio. An advocate of the needs of youths with brain injuries and their families, she is on numerous national task forces and committees, as well as former co-chair of the Special Interest Group on Children and Adolescents with Brain Injuries for the Brain Injury Association of America.

Widely published and a national and international presenter, Dr. DePompei specializes in the impact of brain injury upon speech, language and communication. She is especially interested in developing transitional opportunities for students as they progress through school and prepare for adulthood. Dr. DePompei is Vice President and Senior Author at Lash & Associates Publishing/Training Inc.

Katherine Kimes, Ed.D.

Dr. Kimes has an extensive background, both personally and professionally, in the area of brain injury. She has studied acquired brain injury and has a unique understanding of the mechanisms of injury and how the brain has the capacity to heal after injury. When she was 16, Dr. Kimes was a passenger in a one car accident and sustained a severe traumatic brain injury. After spending weeks in a coma, she regained consciousness; however, her world had drastically changed. She was unable to walk and the left side of her body was severely impaired. Her tongue was paralyzed and she couldn’t eat or talk. Doctors told her parents that it was highly unlikely that she would be able to graduate from high school without major assistance and higher education was out of the question. Her personal experience of living with brain injury has evolved into a philosophy of recovery and what is possible.

This philosophy now encompasses the education of students with brain injury and those who teach them. Dr. Kimes has worked with adults who have sustained traumatic brain injuries and has written various articles on brain injury and special education for the George Washington University’s HEATH Resource Center and Disabled Student Services. She has guest lectured on the topic of traumatic brain injury for the University’s Graduate School of Education and Human Development. She spoke at the 2007 South Carolina Statewide Brain Injury Conference in Columbia, SC on the topic of service coordination for students with brain injury. She has an M.A. degree in Writing (2000) and an M.A. in Transition Special Education with an emphasis in acquired brain injury (2004). Dr. Kimes completed her doctoral program in the Leaders for Systems Change Program in Special Education at George Washington University.

Marilyn Lash, M.S.W.

Ms. Lash has over 35 years of experience working with persons with disabilities and their families in medical, rehabilitation, educational and vocational settings. Currently, she is a Partner at Lash & Associates Publishing/Training, Inc. in Wake Forest, NC. She is an author of many publications on the psychosocial impact of brain injury. Her writing and training emphasize coping strategies for families and practical interventions by professionals and educators in hospitals, rehabilitation programs, schools, and community agencies.

Trained as a social worker at Boston University School of Social Work, she moved from clinical work to program development in the community for many years. While at New England Medical Center in Boston, she developed national training programs at the Research and Training Center on Childhood Trauma. She is also an Assistant Clinical Professor in the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at Tufts University School of Medicine.

Active on many national committees, she formerly co-chaired the National Task Force on Children and Adolescents of the Brain Injury Association of America and is on various national task forces on brain injury and editorial boards of rehabilitation journals.

She is the Past Chair of the Brain Injury Association of North Carolina and currently Chair of the North Carolina Statewide Advisory Council on Brain Injury.

Sue Pearson, M.A.

Sue Pearson has worked as the state consultant for students with brain injuries for 12 years. Employed by the Iowa Department of Education, she worked with 15 brain injury resource teams across the state, creating communication networks with hospital and rehabilitation personnel, educational professionals and families. These networks continue to assist students with the transition from hospital based care to educational services in their local communities. The joint efforts of the Iowa Department of Education and the University of Iowa Center for Excellence on Disabilities serve as a model for other states to recognize and meet the special educational needs of students with brain injuries.

Trained as a special educator, Sue Pearson’s major areas of study include orthopedic disabilities and learning disabilities. Building on her work in developmental disabilities for the past 25 years, she has conducted numerous workshop and conference presentations for educators, families and medical staff in Iowa and across the country.

Ronald Savage, Ed.D.

Dr. Savage has worked with children, adolescents, and young adults with traumatic brain injuries and neurological disorders for over 35 years. Presently, Dr. Savage is Executive Vice President for the North American Brain Injury Society (NABIS) and Vice President and partner at Lash & Associates Publishing/ Training, Inc. Dr. Savage is also Program Consultant to The George Washington University Graduate Program in Traumatic Brain Injury and Editor of the Brain Injury Professional.

Dr. Savage is the former Executive Vice President of the Bancroft Neurosciences Institute in New Jersey; the former Senior Vice President of Behavioral Health and Rehabilitative Services at The May Institute in Massachusetts; and the former Executive Director of Clinical Services for Rehabilitation Services of New York. In addition, Dr. Savage has started and directed several specialized brain injury programs for children and young adults throughout the country and has authored textbooks, journal articles and book chapters on pediatric brain injury. Dr. Savage is the former Chairperson of the Pediatric Task Force for the Brain Injury Association of America; the past Co-Chairperson of the International Pediatric Task Force for the International Brain Injury Association; and serves on numerous professional and advisory boards across the country.

Janet Tyler, Ph.D.

Janet Tyler, Ph.D., is the Director of the Kansas State Department of Education’s Neurologic Disabilities Support Project, a statewide program that provides inservice training, consultation and technical assistance to educators serving students with traumatic brain injuries. Dr. Tyler also serves as an adjunct member of the Department of Special Education’s graduate faculty at the University of Kansas where she provides preservice training in traumatic brain injury. Since 1987, she has published, presented and consulted widely on educational issues related to traumatic brain injury.

Gary Wolcott, M.Ed.

An experienced counselor, administrator and trainer, Gary Wolcott has long been an advocate for families of children with brain injuries as well as a consultant with school systems. He was instrumental in raising the national awareness of rehabilitation professionals and educators about the long-term cognitive effects of brain injuries in children and their impact on learning.

He has been the Director of Education for the National Head Injury Foundation, founded a management and training consulting business, and worked as a researcher and educational specialist at the Research and Training Center in Rehabilitation and Childhood Trauma at Tufts-New England Medical Center in Boston.

Gary Wolcott is now based in the Portland, Maine area providing consultation and training services. He currently serves as Director of Education, Training and Staff Development at Goodwill Industries of Northern New England.