Mary Jo Puglisi

Mary Jo Puglisi has been working in the field of special education for more than 25 years. Her practical approach is rooted in a strong background in psychology (Masters in Counseling Psychology from Loyola University in Maryland) and a firm belief that all children can learn. She is currently working as the Director of the Sacred Heart Program, a program for high school girls with learning disabilities at Mount deSales Academy. Her approach to student success is to help students, parents and teachers understand how the student learns so that they can work together to build a supportive foundation until she is ready to advocate for herself.

Articles by Mary Jo Puglisi

• Tapping the potential of students with learning disabilities

  Monday, January 23, 2017

  Student underperformance frequently causes stress for classroom teachers, and one of the most underperforming populations is students with learning disabilities. Often, these students spend years observing that their best effort falls short of mediocre efforts on the part of their peers. At some point, they stop giving their best effort in an attempt to preserve their fragile egos. "I only studied for a minute, so of course I got a D" is much easier than "I studied for hours over the course of the past week and only got a C, when my best buddy studied in the locker room for 15 minutes and got an A."