The Dyslexic Positive Libraries team can be reached at DyslexicPositiveLibraries@outlook.com
Emily Carley
Emily Carley, M.Ed. OGCE, A/OGA HQVTED & Specialized Literacy Professional Lic. PK-12 Emily is a highly distinguished educator. With more than 20 years experience in public education, 15 as a dedicated early elementary classroom educator in Vermont public schools (K-6 Lic., 2029), Emily is a master educator. She teaches graduate-level literacy courses, consults with schools and coaches teachers K-12. She is the founder of The Literacy Spark, LLC and a full-time public school district specialist. Emily is a published author, a certified Educating Children Outdoors (ECO) classroom educator and trained in RULER (Brackett, PhD) social/emotional regulation. Her training includes neurodiversity and inclusion, trauma-informed and systematic literacy instruction is scientifically-based, explicit, direct, multisensory and emotionally sound for children, youth and adults. Emily is an unwavering advocate that ALL can learn to read.
When she’s not teaching you can find Emily seeking her own adventure. She’s quick to take watercolors out of her pack to paint dawns and dusks or venture off to sift through tidepools at the ocean. She frequently challenges herself with new experiences. Most recently riding horses, pruning a seemingly untamable pear tree and seeking world tastes such as Ethiopian or Greek with family and conversation at the table.
Nicole Westbom
Nicole Westbom, M.L.I.S., is a youth library specialist with 13 years of experience in busy public library settings, including a year driving a Bookmobile with Americorps. She has a Master’s Degree in library science and a bachelor’s degree in Biochemistry, so she loves to talk science anytime. She has served on the board of the Vermont Library association and the Golden Dome Award committee. Her ongoing summer program, Shakespeare camp, is entering its twelfth year.
In her spare time, she loves to create original crocheted pieces and play board games. She is an amateur musician and a Pokemon enthusiast.
Susan Whitehead
Susan Whitehead, M.L.S., is a Reference & Teaching Resources Librarian and Business, Math, and Technology Liaison for the Community College of Vermont and the Vermont State Colleges System Libraries. Her professional interests include instructional design, open educational resources, and educational equity.
She is dyslexic, neurodiverse, and co-founder of Dyslexic Positive Libraries Initiative, an initiative focused on bringing dyslexic positivity and effective literacy methods to libraries. In 2025, she presented at the Vermont Library Association and the American Library Association conferences. Her 2026 speaking schedule includes engagements with the American Library Association’s Office of Disability, Literacy, and Outreach Services, the Public Library Association, the Library of Congress National Library Service for the Blind and Print Disabled, and the Association of College & Research Libraries at the ALA 2026 Conference.
Outside of her professional work, Susan enjoys exercising, meditating, gardening, theater, reading, relaxing by fires, and solving New York Times puzzles.