b'faces of ormeJohn Brentar, PhDEXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF MORRISSEY-COMPTONJOHN VOLUNTEERS HIS TIME TO ASSIST ORME STUDENTS AND THEIR FAMILIES NAVIGATE LEARNING DIFFERENCES. HE ALSO LEADS PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT OF OUR FACULTY AND STAFF.You are a highly respected professional in your field, what is your educational background?I went to college at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland. After graduating, I trav-eled around the world for approximately three years. Through my travels, I became interested in how various factors (genetics, temperament, and culture) affected the development of per-sonality in people around the world. I decided to pursue a degree in clinical psychology at Ohio University.I completed my internship at the Albany Medical College in New York in 1991, and my postdoctoral fellowship at the Childrens Health Council in Palo Alto, CA (a multidisciplinary clinic for children and their families) and Stanford Medical Center in 1992. I worked at the Childrens Health Council (CHC) from 1992 to 2006 while also working part-time at Morrissey Compton, Inc.I left CHC in 2006 to become Executive Director of Morrissey-Compton.What first inspired you to work with children with learning differences? How do you think students with LD can thrive at Orme?I started testing college students for learning disabilitiesI feel that Orme is a perfect place for students with LD. while in graduate school at Ohio University. I started to testI think the small class sizes, individualized attention from children and adolescents during my internship in New Yorkteachers, hands-on learning opportunities, and family-like and my postdoctoral fellowship in Palo Alto. My first jobatmosphere are important contributors to success for was to work as a therapist in a class of 8-9 year old boysstudents with learning differences. With the support of the with ADHD and learning differences. I began to appreciateOrmes Academic Resource Center, students gain confi-the impact that I can have on changing the trajectory ofdence in their ability to succeed. During my 31 year career, students to reach their goals by helping them, their parents,I have worked with many students with learning differences and teachers understand how they learn and what kind ofto succeed academically and professionally. For example, I support they need. Since then my career has focused onrecently had a meeting with an anesthesiologist who I test-working with children, adolescents, and adults with learninged and diagnosed with dyslexia as a high school student and differences conducting evaluations and providing therapy. once again in college. He told me that understanding his learning profile was an important contributor to his success 12'