Meet Our Board of Directors
Dr. Honora Wall, President
Honora Wall, Ed.D, has a passion for supporting struggling students. Her areas of expertise include the math learning disability, dyscalculia, and other types of neurodivergence. Honora feels that her calling is to speak for people who are not heard: people who are neurodivergent, have anxiety or depressive disorders, or who are systemically marginalized. She combines 20 years of classroom and private instruction experience with her degree in Curriculum & Instruction to create both educator training and online math classes for students. Dr. Wall is a member of ATE (Association of Teacher Educators), NCTM, ICTM, LDA, and is excited to be part of the LDA-Iowa board.
Amy Eaton, First Vice-President
Amy Eaton is a special education consultant for Heartland AEA in Johnston. She facilitates all aspects of the provision of special education and support and related services in assigned schools. Amy earned her master’s degree in Education from Wayne State College and has worked in the past as a special education strategist for Northwest AEA and at Hinton Elementary School as special education and general education classroom teacher.
Kim Miller, Second Vice-President
Kim has been on the Iowa Learning Disabilities Association Board since 2001. She co-chaired the State Learning Disabilities Conference for many years. This included many conference presentations. Some of her presentations were: “Rejuvenating the IEP Meeting”, “Must-Have Technology”, “Guided Reading Plus”, “Co-Teaching and Active Learning Skills”, “Making Sense of Mathematics in Everyday Life”, “Defining, Developing, and Delivering Differentiation”, and “Spelling: It’s Got To Be More Than A Test.”
Kim has also presented at the International Learning Disabilities Conference on various topics. Some of her presentations have included: “The ABCD’s of Accessible Books,” in Chicago, IL; “You Snooze, You Lose (Active Engagement),” in Anaheim, CA; and “Visual IEP’s” in New York City.
The Learning Disabilities Association has recognized Kim’s service with various awards. They have included: 2012 & 2005 Iowa Helping Hands Award (highest award bestowed by the LDA-IA for an individual that has impacted learning disabilities in our state), and the 2009 President’s Award (given by the president to an individual who has provided outstanding service to LDA-IA). In 2014 she was awarded Iowa’s Outstanding Volunteer at the International Learning Disabilities Conference in Anaheim, CA.
Kim retired from UNI in 2025 after 40 years of service. She continues to live out her lifelong goal of making a difference in the lives of students.
Theresa Stensland, Secretary
Theresa served as a Special Education Consultant for AEA 267 for 31 years. She earned her B.Ed and Master’s Degrees from the University of Northern Iowa and brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to the organization. She has filled the position of Secretary for LDA-Iowa for several years and has worked on several other board activities.
Shirley Sinnott, Treasurer
Shirley earned her BA and MA from the University of Northern Iowa and has worked in the field of Education / Special Education for 40 years prior to retiring in the spring of 2015. As a teacher, Shirley taught in resource and self-contained special education programs at the elementary and junior high levels. After 19 years of teaching, Shirley continued her work in special education as a special education consultant with AEA 267. She has also served as an adjunct instructor at Upper Iowa University-Waterloo Center, teaching special education classes.
Patty Beyer, Past President
Patty retired in May 2016 after many years as a special educator. She taught in the Cherokee Community School District, serving as Alternative High School Administrator and High School Resource Teacher. She served several years as LDA-Iowa’s 1st Vice-President, and is involved in many of the activities of the association including advocacy and membership.
Helen Beneke, Board Member
Helen Beneke has devoted her career to education as a special education teacher, an educational strategist, and 25 years as a special education consultant for an area education agency. She had served as an adjunct instructor for Morningside College, Buena Vista University, and Drake University. She supervised interns for the graduate department of Morningside College following her retirement from AEA 8. Helen has also been affiliated with Iowa Public Television as a utilization specialist for specific projects, and she served as the coordinator of the first state-wide teacher learning teams.
Helen is active in two international special education organizations and has presented at many worldwide conferences in the past 15 years. She has also provided teacher training at special educational facilities in Zagreb, Croatia, and Visakhapatnam, India.
Helen and her husband, Don, have four children and nine grandchildren. She and her husband are active in many community groups and currently, Helen is the chairperson for a county-wide art project.
Cherie Blaise, Board Member
New board member Cherie Blaise is from Cherokee and works a special education teacher at Ridgeview High School in Holstein. After 10 years serving as an education paraprofessional, she obtained her teaching degree. Cherie is active on her local fair board and on high school committees. Welcome, Cherie!
Vicki Goshon, Board Member
Vicki is a leader in the state of Iowa in the field of Learning Disabilities. She holds a Master’s Degree in Education and an Administrator of Special Education degree. Vicki has taught students with Learning Disabilities for 33 years. In addition to her work with LDA, she has served on the Iowa Department of Education’s Special Education Advisory Panel.Throughout her career in special education, Vicki has written several successful grants in order to obtain funding for materials and educational services for her students. An exciting outcome of one of these grants is a literacy project taking place in Iowa Correctional Institutions. She also operates a private tutoring service in order to provide affordable academic support to students. Honors and awards include 2012 Helping Hands Award – Iowa LDA, 2008 Sam Kirk Award – National LDA- 2009 and 2002 President’s Award – Iowa LDA. Vicki considers it an honor and privilege to lead students with learning disabilities to acknowledge their strengths and become successful adults with meaningful careers.
Janice Judisch, Board Member
Janice lives in Waterloo and holds a Master’s degree from University of Northern Iowa. She is a former special education consultant for Area Education Agency 267 (now Central Rivers AEA). Janice joined the LDA-IA Board in 2023.
Gayle Slattery, Board Member
Darla Stack, Board Member
Darla is a retired school psychologist who worked with Pre-K to 21 students’ academic areas of need at AEA 267. She also served on behavior teams, autism teams, Early Access and Child Find. She has used her training and experience in understanding data to serve as a school improvement consultant. Darla wants to help develop and support a culture that promotes learning for all students.
Diane Tollenaar, Board Member
Diane joined the board in 2024 and has a passion for helping families like hers. She brings the perspective of a mother who struggled with getting a child through school, through getting diagnoses and everything that goes with it. Diane serves on the Iowa Children at Home Advisory Committee and participated in the 2017 Iowa Family Leadership Training Institute. She and her family live in Clinton.
In Memory of Dr. Richard and Verlee Owens
Dr. Richard Owens and his wife, Verlee both passed away in late 2025. They were life-long advocates for individuals with disabilities. Dick and Verlee served on the LDA-IA board for decades and were key to the success of the organization. We will miss these truly wonderful and kind individuals.