About Me

Shelly Burgess Nicotra earned a dual B.A. from Vanderbilt University and an M.A. from Syracuse University. She taught Art History for several years at the Syracuse University in Florence, Italy program before embarking on a career in marketing and television production in New York City.  She served as the Executive Producer of the Emmy-award winning Lidia’s Kitchen for over a decade in New York City and a marketing and communication consultant for several years in the Washington, D.C. area.

After discovering that her youngest son had dyslexia, Nicotra pursued her Associate Level certification in the Orton-Gillingham approach through the Orton-Gillingham Academy (OGA) and worked 1:1 with students for several years under the supervision of Dr. Pledger Fedora of the Dyslexia Institute of Language and Learning.  She subsequently became an independent Certified Level Orton-Gillingham Practitioner through the OGA in 2023 and worked with students in a 1:1 setting. She is currently an OGA Fellow-in-Training and Instructor at the Stern Center based in Williston, VT.

One of my fondest memories as a mother was reading books with my two older children before bedtime.  My son learned to read easily at the age of three; my daughter began reading in kindergarten.  Both children were academically strong students and needed little assistance from me.

My youngest son was not so lucky. He struggled to hold a crayon and write as a child.  Although he recognized his letters, he could not blend them into words.  He eventually received multiple diagnoses including dyslexia.  My world and career needed to change, and it needed to include teaching, something that I loved doing many years prior.

As an Orton-Gillingham Academy Certified Practitioner and a Fellow-in-Training with Dr. Pledger Fedora of the Dyslexia Institute of Language and Learning, I tutor young students in a 1:1 setting. I have worked with students of different ages, cultural backgrounds, and profiles.  Although they differ in their strengths and weaknesses, they all have one thing in common.  They learn to read using the structured, explicit, multisensory, diagnostic, prescriptive, and flexible Orton-Gillingham approach. I look forward to helping more students like them develop their literacy skills while raising awareness about the complex and misunderstood world of learning disabilities.