ALUMNI
Ph.D. Students
Dr. Liat Feingold
I have a B.A. in Behavioral Science from Ben-Gurion University of the Negev and an M.A. and Ph.D. in Learning Disability Evaluation and Remediation from the University of Haifa. During the course of my master’s research, I developed tools to evaluate the self-awareness of children with reading disabilities, in order to better understand the influences of high awareness on their emotional and academic functioning. After completing my M.A., I began a working toward a Ph.D. on the influence of counseling groups on children with learning disabilities and ADHD and on their mothers, in relation to their emotional and behavioral functioning, mother-child relationships, and academic achievements. During my studies, I also took part in the establishment of the learning disability clinic at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, initially working as an instructor for M.A. students and then managing the clinic (evaluation and treatment practicum). In addition, I work as a lecturer for the Open University, teaching courses in the field of learning disability, ADHD, and cognitive processes in reading.
M.A thesis title:
Self- awareness of reading disability- A motivating or a hindering factor. Supervised by Prof. Michal Shany and Prof. Avigdor Klingman.
Ph.D. thesis title:
The contribution of counseling groups for children with learning disabilities and ADHD and for their mothers within three formats of interventions: Child/Mother/Mother & Child. Supervised by Prof. Zipora Shechtman and Prof. Michal Shany.
Publications:
Shany, M., Weiner, J., & Feingold, L. (2010). Knowledge about and preoccupation with reading disabilities. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 44(1), 80-93.
Blicher, S., Feingold, L., & Shany, M. (2016). The role of trait anxiety and preoccupation with reading disabilities of children and their mothers in predicting children’s reading comprehension. Journal of Learning Disabilities. Published online February 11, 2016.
Ronen Kasperski
My research explores links between cognition and emotion. My PhD thesis focused on the potential of reading-related components, namely RAN-L, reading rate, reading accuracy and reading comprehension to independently predict reading self-concept. It also examined the effects of an intervention protocol that specifically targets the precursors of reading self-concept and looked at developmental changes in the predictors of reading self-concept.
Graduate theses:
Kasperski, R. (2015). Longitudinal changes in the predictors of reading self-concept among at risk and typically developing readers ages 8 to 9 participating in a reading intervention program (Ph.D. thesis). University of Haifa.
Kasperski, R. (2009). Beyond the cognitive factors in reading comprehension: The role of reading self-concept and reading self-confidence (Master's thesis). University of Haifa.
Research interests
My interest in reading research is centered on issues concerning the relationships between reader characteristics and reading achievements.
Journal Publications
Kasperski, R., Shany, M., & Katzir, T. (2016). The role of RAN and reading rate in predicting reading self-concept. Reading and Writing: An Interdisciplinary Journal, 29 (1), 117-136.
Kasperski, R., & Katzir, T. (2013). Are confidence ratings test- or trait-driven?: Individual differences among high, average, and low comprehenders in fourth grade. Reading Psychology, 34(1), 59-84.
Conferences
Kasperski, R., Shany, M., & Katzir, T. (2016). The effects of fluency-based intervention on reading self-concept of second and third grade readers. Poster presented at the 23rd Annual Meeting of the Society for the Scientific Study of Reading, Porto, Porugal.
Kasperski, R., Shany, M., & Katzir, T. (2015). Longitudinal changes in the predictors of reading self-concept among at risk and typically developing readers ages 8 to 9 participating in a reading intervention program. Poster presented at the Cognitive and Neurocognitive Aspects of Learning Abilities and Disabilities conference, Haifa, Israel.
Kasperski, R., Barzillai, M., & Breznitz, Z.(2014). The effects of the reading acceleration program on the reading fluency and processing speed skills of elementary and middle school readers. Presentation at the Annual Meeting of the Society for the Scientific Study of Reading , Santa Fe, NM.
Kasperski, R., Shany, M., & Katzir, T. (2013). Is there a transfer effect from training lower level reading skills to perceptions and metacognition? Poster presented at the Brain, Mind and Fluency Conference, Haifa, Israel..
Kasperski, R., Shany, M., Katzir, T., Breznitz, Z., & Galili, K. (2012). Changes in reading self-concept and calibration of comprehension among struggling 4th grade children, as a result of fluency-based intervention. Presentation at the International Academy for Research in Learning Disabilities, Padua, Italy.
Katzir, T. & Kasperski, R. (2010). Beyond the cognitive factors in reading comprehension: The role of reading self-concept and reading self-confidence. Presented at the International Academy for Research in Learning Disabilities, Miami, FL.
Kasperski, R. & Katzir, T. (2008). Beyond the cognitive factors in reading comprehension: The role of reading self-concept and reading self-confidence. Paper presented at the "Script" conference, Haifa, Israel.
MA students
Gilly Herman
I hold a bachelor's degree in Psychology and Special Education and a master's degree in Learning Disabilities from the University of Haifa. My thesis, which was conducted at the Laboratory of Bilingualism and supervised by Prof. Michal Shany and Dr. Anat Prior, focused on the relationship between executive functions and reading monitoring. In the upcoming year, I will begin my Ph.D., which will focus on the manifestation of syntactic awareness among children with learning disabilities and will be supervised by Prof. Sharon Armon Lotem from the Department of English Linguistics at Bar-Ilan University.
For the past three years, I have worked at the Beit Ruth Institute for the Treatment of Learning Disabilities, where I focus on remedial teaching in English as well as diagnosis of learning disabilities.
Thesis Title
The contribution of reading ability and executive functions to reading monitoring. An M.A thesis completed at the department of Learning Disabilities.
Supervised by Prof. Michal Shany and Dr. Anat ptior
Conferences:
Herman, G., Shany, M., & Prior A. (2014). The contribution of reading ability and executive functions to reading monitoring. Poster presentation at the 8th Annual Conference of the Israel Association for Literacy and Language at the University of Haifa.
Tal Lichtenstein
I have a B.A. in Social Science from Tel Aviv Yafo Academic College, a teaching certificate from Tel Aviv University, and an M.A. in Learning Disability Evaluation and Remediation from the University of Haifa.
During the past three years, I have worked as a learning disabilities diagnostician at the Levinsky College "Matal" for adult students, and teaching learning strategies to schoolchildren and university students with learning difficulties and/or learning disabilities.
Recently, I started working as a learning disabilities consultant at a high school in Tel Aviv.
M.A. thesis title:
Negative rumination about academic frustration among adults with ADHD: Association with executive functions and contribution to academic self-perception and satisfaction with life. Supervised by Prof. Michal Shany.
Yael Marcusohn
I have a B.A. in Psychology and a teaching certificate in both Psychology and English from the University of Haifa, and am currently finishing a master's degree in Learning Disability Evaluation and Remediation. I am writing my thesis under the supervision of Prof. Michal Shany and Dr. Liat Goldfarb on error monitoring and global/local processing among subtypes of dyslexia in the Hebrew orthography.
I have worked as a research assistant for the past two years to Dr. Tamar Degani and Dr. Hamutal Kreiner, developing experimental tools, programming tasks, and analyzing the results of studies on bilingualism. Prior to this, I assisted Prof. Michal Shany in her study on reading comprehension among children of different socioeconomic backgrounds, and Dr. Amit Fechler in his study on father loss and its psychological impact on parenting, primarily in evaluating questionnaires and assessing experimental interviews.
In addition, I have worked as a learning disability diagnostician and English teacher at the Beit Ruth Learning Disabilities Center. Prior to this, I worked as an English and psychology teacher at different high schools around Haifa, for children in regular and special education classes, and as a Bagrut examiner.
Hadas Yehudai Wohl
I received my B.A. in Psychology from Tel Aviv University and my M.A. in Learning Disability Evaluation and Remediation from the University of Haifa. During my studies, I worked as a research assistant at the "Language and Numbers Laboratory," headed by Dr. Orly Rubinsten and Dr. Anat Prior, where I participated in the creation and execution of studies on mathematics anxiety.
Currently, I teach at The Max and Mimi Frankel Association for Learning Improvement "Beit Ruth" in Haifa. My students vary from second-graders who struggle with reading instruction to high school students who are acquiring learning strategies. Each student receives a specially tailored syllabus, adjusted to her or his strengths and weaknesses in learning. In addition to teaching, I assess reading disabilities among schoolchildren and college students.
Thesis title:
The development of reading disability subtypes among Hebrew readers: A longitudinal study from grade 1 through grade 2. Supervised by Prof. Michal Shany and Dr. Shelley Shaul.
Publications:
Rubinsten, O., Eidlin, H., Wohl, H., & Akibli, O. (2015). Attentional bias in math anxiety. Frontiers in Psychology, 6.
Anna Goldina
I have a B.A. in School Counseling and Human Services and an M.A. in Learning Disability Evaluation and Remediation, both from the University of Haifa. I have worked in several learning disability evaluation and tutoring centers in Haifa. Today I conduct learning disability evaluations of students at the University of Haifa support center for students with learning disabilities.
Thesis title:
Inferring new word meaning from written context in second language: A modular process specific to the second language or dependent on first language skills?