Dedication to Special Education

About Us

We are all volunteers and all parents of children with disabilities. While our children run the gamut in ages and disabilities, we share one goal: to be part of the solution to the challenges to special education for the benefit of all children with special needs. Our Executive Committee includes:

Leonette Prince Eide Archie and Janet Held Sarah Weller King
Janet Lawson Betty Lituanio Suzi Lee Musgrove
Terry Recht Beth Silver Pam Sowerby
Troi Carleton Linda Miller Mary Sheft

Leonette Prince Eide, Volunteer
Leo has worked for over 25 years in accounting, the last 15 at Lucas Licensing LTD. Since becoming a mom, working part-time gives Leo the opportunity to volunteer as cookie mom in a co-op Girl Scout troop, help in the school classroom and to help raise funds and awareness for Muscular Dystrophy, Families of Spinal Muscular Atrophy and now, Dedication to Special Education. In 1996 Leo and her husband Hans had Hanna. At one month old Hanna's legs went limp. At three months old it was confirmed that she had Type I Spinal Muscular Atrophy (Werdnig Hoffman), a recessive genetic disease, in which the muscles for walking, swallowing and breathing progressively get weaker. It does not affect the brain. At six months old she was put on a ventilator, and came home with 24 hour nursing. Despite all odds, Hanna has been attending school starting with Early Intervention pre school, fully included Kindergarten at Olive Elementary in Novato, and she now attends the AAC class at Vallecito Elementary in San Rafael. She loves taking the bus to school with her nurse. She can't talk, but she can communicate! Leo's "other" job is maintaining a mini ICU at home, managing Hanna's physical care and medical equipment needs, in a loving environment, in Novato with husband, Hans and daughters, Erika 12 and Hanna 9, and all of our wonderful nurses.

Archie and Janet Held, Volunteers
Archie Held is a sculptor who has been creating contemporary works of art for over 20 years. He attended UCLA's master program in sculpture and in 1985 he founded his company Center Star. His artwork is included in several private as well as public art collections. Janet Held attended Emerson College in Boston, majoring in television production. In 1985 she moved to San Francisco and worked as a production manager for various production companies. After the birth of her son Alexander in 1991, she joined her husband's company as the chief financial manager of Center Star. The company currently has 12 employees. Archie and Janet have 3 sons, Jack, 21, Alexander, 16 and Evan, 13. Alexander has been receiving special education services since the age of 3 and was diagnosed with autism at the age of 6. The Helds live in San Rafael.

Sarah Weller King, Co-Chairperson, Grants Program
Sarah has over 25 years of fund raising and marketing communications experience, operating her own freelance consulting business and working with over 75 non profit organizations in the local, regional, national and international levels. In addition, she has worked extensively in corporate communications, video production and proposal development. Currently, she assists her husband, structural engineer Bruce King, in the management of his non profit organization, The Ecological Building Network. They also founded the Green Building Press, a small specialty publishing company, in 2004. For Dedication to Special Education, Sarah is co-chair of the executive steering committee and administrates the Grants to Special Educators program. She started as a volunteer when DSE was founded in 1997. She has a son, Tyler, 14, who has Fragile-X Syndrome and attends special day classes in Marin, and a daughter Lucy, 9, adopted from India. The Kings live in Lucas Valley with their dog, Louis.

Janet Lawson, Corporate Relations
Janet has a Masters of Library Science from Indiana University with an emphasis on interface technology. She put her career on hold when her son, Ian, was diagnosed with autism at the age of 3. Ian was in the MCOE Autistic Program for 5 years and then mainstreamed into 2nd grade at Reed Elementary. Ian continues to enjoy learning in a mixed regular ed/special ed environment. Janet went back to school for an MS in Counseling Psychology from Dominican University. She now works in the private psychotherapy practice of Beth Hossfeld, MFT, where she specializes in adolescent developmental issues, learning disorders, anxiety, young adults in transition, couples therapy and the emotional challenges of families with special needs children. Janet joined Dedication to Special Education in 1997 and works to build strong, ongoing partnerships with the corporate community - both locally and nationally. She, her husband Dan Swearingen, and Ian live in Tiburon.

Betty Lituanio, Co-Chairperson, Public Relations
Betty is a marketing executive with 20 years experience in consumer advertising, public relations and promotions. Her career includes 5 years as Director of Marketing for the Simplicity Pattern Company in Manhattan and 5 years as Senior Account Executive for Retail Marketing, a Bay Area advertising agency. In 1995 Betty and her husband, Nick, had a daughter, Alessandra. During birth, Alessandra suffered asphyxia that caused brain injury and resulted in her current diagnosis of Cerebral Palsy. Since that time, Betty has devoted much of her time and energy to raising Alessandra and managing her medical, educational and physical care. In 2001, Betty joined Dedication to Special Education, focusing her efforts on publicity and community awareness issues. She served on the Board of Directors of Support for Families of Children with Disabilities, a San Francisco nonprofit organization from 1997 through 2002. She also volunteers as a parent mentor for both english and spanish speaking families, offering support and information to other parents who are new to the disabled community. She received an Associates degree in Business from New York University and a Bachelors degree in Latin American Studies from University of California at Berkeley. A native of Uruguay, she is fluent in Spanish. She resides in San Rafael, with husband, Nick, Alessandra, 13, and daughter Daniella, 10.

Suzi Lee Musgrove, Graphic Design/Marketing
Suzi has been a graphic designer and art director for over 15 years. She owned her own studio for eight years and served as the Northern California President of the Graphic Artists Guild for two terms.

Suzi joined the DSE Executive Board in 2003. When her youngest daughter was born with cataracts and later diagnosed on the autistic spectrum, Suzi became involved with the special education community, helping out wherever she could. She has previously served on the Steering Committee for the California Association for Parents of Children with Visual Impairments (CAPVI) and was a member of the Marin County Special Education Advisory Council (SEAC). Suzi lives in Novato with her husband David and their daughters, Nichole, age 21, and Julia, age 10.

Terry Recht, Volunteer
Terry and her husband, Erik Sprotte, moved to the Bay area in late 2000. Erik is currently a VP of Human Resources at McKesson Corporation. Terry has a B.A. in Psychology and also worked in the field of Human Resources primarily in Health Care Companies. Their daughter Alexa, was born in 1992 and experienced her first seizure at two months of age. A brain tumor was discovered and it was removed when she was 3 months old. She continues to have seizures and her parents are still searching for a means to control them. Alexa has been on the Ketogenic diet, has a VNS (Vagal Nerve Stimulator) implant and she has tried just about every drug out there. Alexa is severely developmentally delayed and attends a special day class at Novato High School. Alexa's vocabulary consists of 3 words - hi, momma and dada (the three best words), and she knows 25 signs. She is a great greeter and generally says a boisterous "hi" when she enters a room. She also signs "I love you" to all the special people in her life - that includes just about everyone she meets! She is very loving, adores Barney and has a fabulous smile and laugh. The Recht/Sprotte's live in Novato.

Beth Silver, Communications
Beth has worked in account management for marketing and advertising firms for over 10 years, both in the strategic and creative planning areas. She has managed projects for Robert Mondavi, SanDisk, Twentieth Century Fox, Guinness Import Company and several others. She received her BS Degree from the University of Southern California and is a huge Trojan football fan. Beth and her husband, Barry, have two children, Brooks (9) and Beatrice “Bebe” (5). Her sweet Brooksie suffered a massive stroke at birth, causing cerebral palsy/hemiplegia, speech and language delays as well as a seizure disorder. Brooks underwent successful brain surgery in January 2005 to end his daily battle with seizures. Beth is very active in promoting awareness of pediatric strokes via Children’s Hemiplegia and Stroke Association and serves as an Ambassador for the Cleveland Clinic Pediatric Epilepsy Support Group. She is also a board member of the Osher Marin Jewish Community Center. The Silver family lives in San Rafael with their golden retriever, Bear, and Canine Buddy from Guide Dogs named Bella.

Pam Sowerby, Database Management
Pam is a Certified Public Accountant and a Systems Programmer. For 10 years she operated her own CPA firm and, more recently, has worked as a Systems Programmer, designing and creating database programs. For Dedication to Special Education, she maintains the database in addition to other odd jobs. Pam and husband, Tim, have 2 daughters, whom they adopted from China. Katie is 4 years old and Victoria is 5 years old. Victoria has Cerebral Palsy and attends special education classes in Marin. The Sowerbys live in Mill Valley.

Troi Carleton – Volunteer and Associate Professor of Linguistics at SF
State University
Troi received her PhD in Linguistics from the University of Texas at Austin in 1996 and began teaching at SFSU in the English Department that same year. Her current work emphasizes community collaboration in preserving endangered languages. She currently works with an indigenous population in Mexico, but has experience working in Africa as well. She is also collaborating with colleagues at SFSU, UC Davis and UCSF to work on health literacy in immigrant populations in the Bay Area. Troi and her husband, Aaron have two children, seven-year old Maielle and almost five-year old Eliam. Eliam began Early Intervention for extreme language delay as well as issues with pragmatics and early signs of ADHD when he was 3. He will be starting kindergarten in the Fall of 2007. Troi, Aaron, Maielle and Eliam and new puppy, Maui, live in Novato.

Linda Miller, Volunteer
Linda worked in the field of social work for twenty-two years prior to becoming a teacher. Much of her service involved helping people who were without housing, and those recovering from homelessness. During her time in social services, she also worked as a consultant, focusing on research, data collection design and analysis, grant writing and grant reporting, program design, strategic planning, and training. She has Bachelor’s degrees in Social Work and Sociology, a Master’s degree in Sociology, and a Special Education Teaching Credential. Linda is currently a Special Education teacher in Novato. Linda and her husband, Alex, have two sons, Jack and Davey. Davey, who is charming and incredibly active, was diagnosed with autism at age three. The Miller family lives in Novato with their two dogs, Lucy and Nelly.

Mary Sheft, Volunteer
Mary worked in the financial services industry for over 11 years, having been a Vice President in the Investment Banking Division at Goldman, Sachs & Co. and a Director in Equity Research at Dresdner RCM Global Investors. She received her AB from Princeton University, as did her husband, Mark (go Tigers!). In late 2001, when her oldest son, Alex, was a year old, Mary decided to take what she thought would be a brief hiatus from money management. In 2003, her identical twins experienced a rare complication in utero, causing them to be born prematurely. Also as a result of the complication, her son, Tyler, had a brain hemorrhage. At nine months old he was completely blind, on home oxygen, and deemed unlikely to walk unassisted due to hypotonia. He has made truly inspirational progress since then. Today he is a happy, smart, musical little boy who walks, runs and no longer requires oxygen. Although still legally blind, the amount of his visual recovery has been stunning. He continues to have a speech delay and hypotonia. Mary was a member of the Blind Babies Foundation’s inaugural Kaleidoscope Gala Organizing Committee in 2005 and was Chair of the Sponsorship and Solicitation Committee for the 2006 gala. In memory of Tyler’s twin who passed away at two and a half weeks of age, Mary and Mark started the David Camden Sheft Family Assistance Fund at the California Pacific Medical Center. This fund helps families in need who have children in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. The Sheft family, including Bailey the dog, live in Tiburon.