Board of Directors

Dinan Messiqua
President

Dinan Messiqua has worked in the field of language-based learning disabilities for over 20 years. Currently in private practice, she coaches parents on how to navigate through the complexities of the special education system, and consults to teachers and school administrators in the Boston area. Prior to this work, Dinan was a special educator in Brookline, MA where she worked in a district-wide language-based program and coached general education teachers. At the Carroll School in Lincoln, MA she was a middle school language arts teacher and an Orton-Gillingham tutor. She has an M.A. in Child Development from Tufts, where she worked with Maryanne Wolf, and an M.Ed. from Lesley University, with a licensure in moderate special needs. She is eager to support children, parents, and adults through her work with MABIDA.

Nathan Doty
Past President, Northeast Regional Representative on the IDA Branch Council

Nathan Doty is a licensed child psychologist with expertise in the assessment of neurological, developmental, learning, and emotional difficulties from early childhood through young adulthood. His areas of specialty include autism spectrum disorders, ADHD, mood/anxiety disorders, learning disorders, and acquired brain injury. He is the current Northeast Regional Representative on the IDA Branch Council.

Charlotte Lunde
Vice President

Charlotte Lunde, M.S. CCC-SLP, SLDI, is a licensed speech-language pathologist and literacy specialist working with over 15 years of clinical experience. Charlotte is a certified Structured Literacy Dyslexia Interventionist. She has been on the IDA-MA Board of Directors since 2012. Charlotte works at a school for the deaf & hard of hearing in Boston. Also, she has a private practice specializing in dyslexia in the greater Boston area. Charlotte has expertise in spoken and written language, dyslexia, aural rehabilitation, and English Language Learners. Her experiences include clinical work, consulting, and teaching at the graduate level.

Jodi Bertolino
Treasurer

Jodi Bertolino has worked in the LBLD field for the past 25 years. She joined the MABIDA board in 2016. She has a BA from St. Ambrose University and is currently the Controller at Landmark School in Prides Crossing, MA. She brings a financial insight and perspective to Board.

Angela Ayre
Member at Large

Angela Ayre is a licensed speech-language pathologist and literacy specialist with over 20 years of experience in a variety of settings, including community-based programs, hospital clinics, and private clinics. Angela has expertise in spoken and written language, bilingualism, and the diagnosis and treatment of developmental language disorders and dyslexia. Currently in private practice, she specializes in engaging school-age children, teens, and adults in building language, literacy, or executive function skills and strategies for increased success at school or work. She is excited to work with MABIDA to support learners, learners’ families, and education professionals, in finding the information and resources needed for learners to thrive as readers, writers, and communicators.

Joanna Christodoulou
Member at Large

Joanna Christodoulou, EdD, joined the board in 2010. She holds positions as Assistant Professor at the MGH Institute of Health Professions, Research Affiliate at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Adjunct Lecturer on Education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. She received the 2014 Transforming Education Through Neuroscience Award from the Learning & the Brain Foundation and the International Mind, Brain, and Education Society. Her experiences include clinical work, teaching at undergraduate, graduate, and professional development levels, and research using cognitive neuroscience tools.

Melissa Feller
Member at Large

Melissa is a dual-certified Speech-Language Pathologist/Literacy Specialist. She is a doctoral student in the PhD in Rehabilitation Sciences program at the MGH Institute of Health Professions and a research fellow in the Speech and Language (SAiL) Literacy Lab under the direction of Dr. Tiffany Hogan. Melissa has extensive experience providing intervention and consultation services for individuals with language based learning disabilities. She has also provided clinical education to graduate SLP students, helped train teachers pursuing reading specialist licensure, and wrote content for educational technology curricula focused on struggling readers at the secondary level. She has a passion for supporting parents and teachers in improving outcomes for students with learning differences.

Joseph Green
Member at Large

Joseph B. Green, J.D., is an attorney whose practice includes special education law. He also represents students at private schools and colleges in disciplinary proceedings. Mr. Green has served on the Governor’s/MBA Commission on the Unmet Legal Needs of Children, the Governor’s Child Support Commission, the Commission on Violence Against Children.

Adam Hickey
Member at Large

Adam Hickey is the Landmark School research coordinator and a Landmark Outreach consultant. Previously, Adam taught American literature in addition to his administrative role as an academic advisor. Adam is a graduate of the Harvard Graduate School of Education where he studied language and literacy development. While studying at Harvard, he taught at the Maria L. Baldwin School in Cambridge as a reading specialist and explored the influence of early intervention on struggling readers at the elementary level. He also holds a master’s degree in education from Simmons College. Adam is a licensed reading specialist and moderate special needs educator.

Patricia Kelley-Nazzaro
Member at Large

Trish Nazzaro has dual teaching certification in Massachusetts as both a Speech Language Pathologist and Reading Specialist, and is member of the faculty at the MGH Institute of Health Professions. She joined the IDA Massachusetts Branch board in 2016. She has extensive experience both hospital and school settings working with clinical populations.

Nicole McCarthy
Member at Large

Nicole McCarthy has been a board member since 2016. She is responsible for responding to emails on the MABIDA website. She currently works as a Researcher for the Boston Search Group Team Ventures, has a Masters of Science in Human Resources from Villanova University and worked for Accenture for 7 years in a variety of cross functional HR roles. She is currently launching the YES! program, a youth dyslexia advocacy group in Massachusetts in coordination with the Learning Ally organization.

Kendra McCuine
Member at Large

Kendra is a public school special education teacher in a specialized language-based program. She has worked with dyslexic students for over 15 years and has been a member of the IDA-MA board since 2019. She brings experience as a public and private school teacher, Orton-Gillingham tutor, specialized writing and math instructor, and private school administrator. Kendra is passionate about empowering students to understand their learning profiles, mitigating anxiety in students with LBLD, and building executive function through daily instructional practices. Most importantly, Kendra is the proud mother of two students with learning differences— one with dyslexia and one with ADHD.

Robin Fabiano

Member at Large

Robin Fabiano is the current Student Service administrator at Westwood High School. She began her career as an inclusion facilitator at the elementary level where she taught students with moderate to intensive special education needs. During her teaching career, Ms. Fabiano earned a second Masters in Assistive Technology from Simmons College and her administrative license. She held the position of Co-Director of Elementary Student Services with the Newton Public School for 6 years. Ms. Fabiano is also a strong advocate for diverse learners in the community. She held a board member position at the Charles River Center in Needham and works on the MA Down Syndrome Congress Education Task Force. Ms. Fabiano is an adjunct professor at the Lesley College Collaborative Program and is a co-host of the podcast: A Special Education Teacher, an Administrator and a Lawyer Walk into a Bar (all you ever wanted to know about special education).

Former Board Members

Janet Thibeau
Former Northeast Regional Representative & President of IDA-MA

Janet Barlow Thibeau served as a board member starting in 2014, then served as President of IDA-MA, and is now the IDA Northeast Regional Representative. She is President of BTA Education, an advocacy, college consulting and coaching firm based in West Newbury, MA. She has 15+ years experience working with families of students with all abilities.

Share this page with your friends…