Susan Luger Associates: Educational Advocates

• Susan developed her unique strategy starting in 1984. Then she was a solo practitioner and one of the first Educational Advocates in New York City.
• Susan has now teamed with advocates and special education attorneys. In 2007, she formed SLA, the embodiment of her unique special education strategy. Susan has imbued the organization with ‘heart’, with cooperative team spirit, and congeniality.
• Susan holds the distinction of being one of the few non-attorneys whose communications have been quoted in federal cases. She is known to the NYS Education Department as a tireless activist for the rights of special needs children.
• SLA strives to obtain special education services for our clients, including tuition reimbursement and appropriate special education services.
• In Susan’s strategy, all parties – parents, experts, our advocates, our affiliated attorneys, the school, teachers – are on the team.

As SLA’s lead advocate, Michelle is responsible for training, supervising and scheduling the advocacy team. Additionally, she is the “go to” person for parents. Michelle is always available to answer client's questions and address their concerns.

Michelle is a graduate of the College of Staten Island. She holds a B.S. in Psychology and a Masters Degree in Special Education.

Bonnie is our case manager for our many Chinese-speaking clients. She helps them navigate the special education system with intelligence and care. For the families that are not primarily English-speaking, Bonnie makes it possible for them to obtain appropriate services for their children.

Bonnie has a B.A. from SUNY Buffalo.

Fredda taught children with special needs in preschool, elementary school, middle and high school. She is certified as a Level I Wilson reading teacher and is trained in the Orton Gillingham technique. Fredda, in addition to her special education teaching credentials, holds a certificate as a School District Administrator.

Her years of experience in the school system, her familiarity with the curriculum and of the special education process from evaluation through placement combined with her active participation on impartial hearings makes her well-prepared and very eager to advocate for parents facing the challenges of securing the most appropriate services for their child.

Nadine is certified in several Orton-Gillingham based reading programs, which aid students with language based learning problems. She also served as a teacher consultant in Special Education including; workshop presentations of various IEP development concepts for parents and business professionals. Nadine was an after school program supervisor which paired volunteer tutors with second grade students who were at risk of reading failure.

Nadine brings years of experience with a passion for helping under achieving children. Nadine holds a Masters in Special Education from New York University and a Bachelor’s of Science in Psychology from Long Island University.

As a Fellow at the Academy of Orton-Gillingham Practioners and Educators, Andrea lectures nationwide, tutors learning disabled students and trains teachers to do the same.

Since 1990, Andrea also worked as a classroom teacher in New York area private and public schools, gaining first hand knowledge and experience with a variety of curriculum and programs.

While studying at the University of Buffalo, she was a program assistant for Children with Developmental Disabilities, focusing on treatment programs for children with Asperger’s Syndrome and Autism while supporting an interdisciplinary team of professionals to develop individualized treatment plans.

She was a special education teacher for the NYC DOE and has also worked as a research assistant in the Psychology Department at the University at Buffalo for ADHD Treatment program.

Julie’s main goal in her new role with SLA is to further impact the lives of children with special needs by ensuring they are placed in the best possible programs available to them and assisting families with the education of programs and processes most affective for their children.

Ina taught in the New York City school system for twenty-two years, sixteen of them teaching children with special needs. She is a Special Education docent at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and is an active member of AHA – the Asperger Syndrome and High Functioning Autism Association.

As a parent of a child with special needs, Ina is very familiar with the CSE process and understands how difficult and confusing it can be. With her experience and expertise, Ina guides parents through the CSE process helping them get the services required to meet their child’s individual special needs.

While working on her MS ED she started her own tutoring company, Private Pollock’s, that helps students prepare for art intensified high schools and colleges. She also uses this as a way to practice art therapy.

Her goals at Susan Luger Associates is to find schools that don’t work for student’s and help them and their families meet needs. “I want to be the voice for children when they need it as well as for their families”.

She also served as a case manager and education evaluator on various School Based Support Teams and CSE Review Teams. She’s been an active member of numerous parent and professional organizations and for 17 years served on the board of directors for an organization serving children and adults with multiple disabilities.

Barbara has two adult children one of whom has special needs. The combination of her own personal perspective as a parent, and her work within the system, make her well aware of the struggle families are presented with as they work to get the best for their children in an environment where bureaucracy and procedure often get in the way of what is needed for the child.

A parent of children with special needs, Natasha is a believer that you have to find humor in adversity. Natasha is ready to support the parents navigating the special education maze. She has been with SLA since 2008. Natasha was one of the first graduates of the course in advocacy training provided by the Council of Parents Attorneys and Advocates

Natasha is fluent in Russian.

Adrienne began teaching art at United Cerebral Palsy of New York City’s Brooklyn Teenage and Adult program and subsequently taught in the New York City public schools for 10 years. Her experience in New York City included teaching art to multiply disabled students 5 – 21 years of age and middle school students with a wide range of learning and emotional disabilities and speech and language impairments. She taught art in the Poughkeepsie City School District for the next 20 years. This experience included elementary school for 5 years and then high school. Throughout her years of teaching the “general population” Adrienne specialized in and advocated for those students with special needs who were mainstreamed into her art classes; working closely with their teachers, families and support professionals, and often attending CSE meetings. In addition to her teaching responsibilities she acted as Advisor and Advocate of the Gay/Straight Alliance at Poughkeepsie High School.

Adrienne was an adjunct lecturer at both Queens College and Lehman College, teaching a graduate course “Visual Arts for Students With Learning Problems”. She held summer positions teaching art to incarcerated youth, mentoring teenage gifted girls, and has given private art lessons to an autistic teenager. One of the highlights of Adrienne’s teaching career was the opportunity to share her knowledge and experience in Japan when she participated in a Fulbright Memorial Fund Teacher Program in 2003. She is excited to now use her extensive experiences as an educator to advocate for students with special needs as part of SLA’s team.