Hello. My name is Cristina Brás Taylor and I teach students how to read.

I am originally from Connecticut, and have a Bachelor of Science Degree in Secondary Education/History in 1994. Upon graduation I began a program to certify to teach English as a Second Language (ESL).  I immediately started working as an ESL teacher but quickly realized that many of my students needed more than just help with a new language.  They needed to learn how to really read and learn.  And so I redirected my studies and my teaching in order to pursue this idea.

I completed my Bilingual Special Education degree in 1999 and started giving specialized reading instruction in my role as a support teacher.  I was suddenly able to help students learn to read and also teach them the necessary skills to be successful in the mainstream setting.  This led to a further opportunity to study in this field of interest, and I completed my Orton-Gillingham Associates Certification.

In 2009 my family relocated to Australia with my husband’s work. Although I had no plans to work there, I somehow stumbled into a situation where I felt the need to help a young boy with his reading. One thing led to another and I interviewed with SPELD-NSW and became a member. The demand for this kind of specialized teaching was higher than I had imagined and that this kind of learning is clearly needed internationally.

Now that I am living in Portugal, I have the opportunity to help more children learn to learn.