Alison has extensive knowledge in reading development, instruction and assessment. She completed her doctorate on curriculum-based measurement of reading (a measure of oral reading fluency) and was a lecturer in special education with a focus on literacy at Macquarie University Special Education Centre.  Alison has had hands-on experience teaching students with reading difficulties in Australia and South Carolina, USA, and she has also provided consultation to the delivery of MultiLit’s literacy programs to disadvantaged students in several projects, including those in Cape York in far north Queensland, inner city, Sydney, and in Sydney’s Western suburbs. In addition to her roles with MRU and MultiLit Literacy Centres, Alison is currently involved with the development of InitiaLit–2, MultiLit’s whole-class reading and spelling program for all children in their third year of schooling.