The Future of SpLD Assessment

Dr. Sherry Mee Bell is Professor Emerita, former Director of Literacy Initiatives, and former acting dean at the University of Tennessee. Dr. Bell holds a Bachelor of Science in Elementary and Special Education, a Master of Science in Educational Psychology, and a Ph.D. in School Psychology, all from the University of Tennessee. A licensed psychologist and former elementary and special education teacher, Dr. Bell has extensive applied experience in diagnosing learning disorders and instructing students with learning disorders. In 2023, Dr. Bell received the prestigious Distinguished Alumni Award at the University of Tennessee, where she was instrumental in establishing the Tennessee Reading Research Center. Dr. Bell has authored over 70 scholarly articles in such journals as Annals of Dyslexia, Journal of Learning Disabilities, and Gifted Child Quarterly. She is co-author of The Handbook of Reading Assessment (2008; 2016), Assessment of Reading Instructional Knowledge-Adults (2012) and Tests of Dyslexia (Mather et al., 2024). Dr. Bell conducts research related to assessment and instruction of struggling readers and individuals with learning disabilities, including dyslexic and twice-exceptional learners. 

Dr. R. Steve McCallum is Professor Emeritus, University of Tennessee, and a licensed psychologist. Dr. McCallum holds a Ph.D. in School Psychology from the University of Georgia. At the University of Tennessee, he served as professor in the School Psychology Program (30+ years), over 22 years as Department Head, and more recently as Interim Associate Dean. His research/scholarship interests include psychoeducational assessment, nonverbal assessment, dyslexia, and scale development in general. For his professional contributions Dr. McCallum has been recognized by the University of Georgia (Alumni of Distinction Award), the University of Tennessee (Chancellor’s Research and Creative Achievement Award), and Georgia Southern University (Outstanding Alumnus Award); he is an American Psychological Association (APA) (Fellow (Divisions 2 and 16), and recently won APA’s Contributions to Practice award. Dr. McCallum is author/co-author/editor of numerous scholarly works, including articles in journals such as School Psychology Review, Psychology in the Schools,Annals of Dyslexia, and books such as the Essentials of Nonverbal Assessment, Handbook of Reading Assessment (2^nd ed.), Handbook of Nonverbal Intelligence (2^nd ed). He is co-founder of the Journal of Psychoeducational Assessment and co-author of several tests (e.g., Universal Nonverbal Intelligence Test (1^st and 2^nd editions), Universal Talented and Gifted Screener, and most recently, Tests of Dyslexia.

Anna Barnett is a Professor in Psychology at the Centre for Psychological Research, Oxford Brookes University. Her research includes the development and standardisation of assessment tools for use by health and education professionals. She is an author of the Movement ABC-3 Test and Checklist and the DASH-2. Anna also coordinated the UK standardisation of the IDS-2. 

Sally-Ann Morrison is the Founder and Director of Praxis CPD. Sally-Ann is on a mission to elevate standards and empower SpLD assessors wanting to reach the highest standards of professional practice. Sally-Ann is renowned for boosting confidence, expanding knowledge, and nurturing successful assessors, drawing on her extensive assessment career, her experience as Senior Lecturer in SpLD and 5 years as an APC reviewer for Patoss.

 

Sarah Sainty is an assessment consultant for Hogrefe. She has extensive experience of assessing and supporting individuals with special educational needs, first as an occupational therapist, and then as a speech and language therapist and specialist teacher assessor. She has a longstanding interest in dyslexia and in the complex interrelationships between language, literacy, and mathematical development, particularly when learners speak more than one language.