Staff Members
- Dr. Ari Goldstein, Director
- Dr. Sam Effarah
- James Gottschalk, M.A.
- Hyacintha Thomas, M.Ed.
- Jessica Emold Laven, M.Ed.
- Janova Lerdal, M.Ed., CCC-SLP
- Sara McGinn, M.A.
- Joanna Cohen, M.A.
Dr. Ari Goldstein, Director
The Cognitive Solutions approach was developed by founder Dr. Ari Goldstein during the past decade of teaching and assessing children and adults with special needs in both the private and public sectors. Dr. Goldstein holds a Master's degree in Learning Disabilities and a Ph.D. in Educational Psychology from the University of Illinois. He has conducted research in the areas of learning disabilities, cognitive development, executive functioning, and meta-cognition. Dr. Goldstein has also completed post-graduate training in psychological and educational assessment, and is a certified Illinois Learning Specialist. He holds memberships in the National Association of School Psychologists, the Council for Exceptional Children, the Learning Disabilities Association of Illinois, the Association of Educational Therapists, and the American Psychological Association, and has been awarded the CEC's Certificate as a Professionally Recognized Special Educator. Dr. Goldstein has appeared on WGN, NBC, and CBS as an educational contributor.
Dr. Sam Effarah
Sam Effarah, Psy.D. holds a Clinical Psychology appointment in the Department of Medicine at Resurrection Health Care: Holy Family Medical Center. He is a Licensed Clinical Psychologist and graduate of the Illinois School of Professional Psychology, Chicago Campus. Dr. Effarah has provided services and support to children, adolescents, adult and geriatric populations in group, individual, and family settings in outpatient, inpatient, crisis center, emergency room, learning center, and therapeutic day school settings.
Dr. Effarah began his career at the St. Louis Hills Learning Center in Missouri where he also volunteered in an Anxiety Disorders Lab at St. Louis University Medical Center. Since moving to Chicago, he has been employed by the University of Chicago, Evanston Northwestern Healthcare, Alexian Brothers Behavioral Health Hospital, ProPsych Associates, Cognitive Solutions Learning Center, Northwestern Neuropsychological Associates, and at the Jewish Children's Bureau of Chicago. He has also consulted at various agencies including the Jesse Brown VA Medical Center and Rush Behavioral Health. He developed a Peak Performance Training Program for future school administrators of high-need schools participating in the Star School Leadership Project: a cutting edge grant project funded by the US Department of Education. Among his numerous awards is the CARE Leadership Award and a Letter of Commendation from Evanston Northwestern Healthcare for his work after the September 11th attacks: an award which he notes among his most fulfilling.
His specialties include Neurofeedback and Quantitative EEGs (Topographical Brain-Mapping). He holds membership in the American Psychological Association and International Society for Neurofeedback and Research.
James Gottschalk, M.A.
James Gottschalk is a graduate of Michigan State University, and has completed a Masters degree in Developmental Psychology with a focus on learning disabilities. His research centered on the development of comprehension skills for struggling readers. In addition to his work at Cognitive Solutions, James worked for five years in a therapeutic day school, primarily with children who had both social emotional problems and learning disabilities. Currently, James works for Cognitive Solutions as an Educational Therapist, developing individualized intervention programs which cover a wide array of needs for each student. He is also involved in curriculum development and modification for students with learning disabilities, both in the traditional and home school environments. James is trained and certified in the Instrumental Enrichment program of cognitive restructuring, has completed training in the Orton-Gillingham multi-sensory reading program, and is a specialist in the use of visualization for the development of reading and verbal skills.
Hyacintha Thomas, M.Ed.
Hyacintha Thomas is a graduate of McGill University (Montreal, Canada), where she pursued a Bachelor of Arts degree in psychology, with a focus on child development. Both in Canada and the U.S., she has spent the last 10 years working with children in a variety of settings. While in Chicago, she has worked with children having both social-emotional problems and learning disabilities, as a childcare counselor for the Sonia Shankman Orthogenic School, at the University of Chicago, and at a therapeutic day school. Recently, Hyacintha has completed a Master's degree in Curriculum and Instruction at Loyola University, Chicago. Hyacintha is certified to teach Kindergarten through 9th grade, and she also holds Illinois State Board of Education endorsements to teach middle school math and social studies. She currently works at Cognitive Solutions as an Educational Therapist, specializing in developing interventions for students with mathematics related disabilities. She also holds a position as Middle School math teacher at Sacred Heart Academy in Chicago. Hyacintha is a member of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, is fluent in French, and has a working knowledge of both Spanish and Mandarin.
Jessica Emold Laven, M.Ed.
Jessica Emold Laven received her Masters Degree in Special Education from DePaul University in 2004. She attended a dual certification program, and received a type 10 certificate with an LBS1 endorsement as well as a type 3 Regular Education certificate-Kindergarten through 9th grade. Jessica received her undergraduate degree in Rehabilitation Psychology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2002. She has spent the past 4 years teaching Special Education for the Chicago Public Schools. Jessica is a trained reading specialist in both the Wilson Program and the Rewards Program. She has been employed at Cognitive Solutions as an educational therapist for the past five years, working with a broad range of students to help develop their organizational skills. test taking and study skills, and overall academic abilities.
Janova Lerdal, M.Ed., CCC-SLP
Janova Lerdal holds her Certificate of Clinical Competence in Speech-Language Pathology and is licensed to practice in the state of Illinois. She received her Bachelors of Science in Nutritional Sciences from the University of Arizona in 2000, and her Masters of Education in Communication Disorders from the University of Virginia in 2006. Janova spent the last two years working as a Speech Pathologist for various elementary and secondary schools within the Chicago Public School System. In addition to school settings, she has experience in both speech clinics and hospitals. Janova has worked with a wide variety of speech difficulties including articulation errors, language delays, fluency, and autistic spectrum communication disorders.
Sarah McGinn, M.A.
Sara McGinn obtained her Masters degree in Learning Disabilities from Northwestern University. She also received an LBS1 endorsement upon completion of her Masters. Sara completed her Bachelor of Science in Psychology from Spring Hill College in Mobile, Alabama where she researched autism and alternative therapies for brain injured children. Sara has experience creating personalized education plans for remediation of learning disabilities, training in psycho-educational testing, and also works as a neurofeedback technician at Cognitive Solutions.
Joanna Cohen, M.A.
Joanna Cohen graduated from Northwestern University with a Masters in Learning Disabilities, and received her LBS I endorsement. She obtained a Bachelor of Science in Natural Science with an emphasis in Geology from the University of Puget Sound. Joanna has worked with preschool through high school aged students having a wide range of learning and physical disabilities. She has experience creating and implementing individualized lessons for students with learning difficulties, and with the psychoeducational diagnostic process. Joanna currently works as a Learning Specialist at Cognitive Solutions, creating and implementing individualized programs to address student’s academic challenges.