Sherene is a Severe Learning Disability (SLD) Specialist with the Halifax Regional Centre for Education and has been a teacher within the board for the past 15 years. She is a specialist in teaching structured literacy and she is trained in the Lindamood Phoneme Sequencing (LIPS) Program, the Wilson Reading System and Foundations, and Rewards, which are all structured literacy programs that focus on multi-sensory phonological and phonemic awareness to improve reading, spelling, and writing skills. Sherene has also completed training through the SMARTS Program, which is centred around improving executive functioning skills.

Sherene believes a person’s learning experience is multi-layered and when developing an intervention, she takes many factors into consideration. Learning styles, personality, cultural background, as well as academic strengths and challenges all provide valuable information aiding in the creation of a comprehensive, individualized program. Sherene teaches people with learning disabilities in a dynamic way, allowing them to demonstrate their understanding in a personal, individual way.

Sherene has traveled and taught in Malaysia, South Korea, Thailand and Bolivia, and in northern Saskatchewan’s Indigenous communities. This, along with her experience growing up in a Croatian immigrant family, has expanded her understanding and respect as to how cultural differences are central to our life experience.