Robyn Wheldall

Dr Robyn Wheldall has been involved in Special Education research since 1988 when she first joined Macquarie University Special Education Centre (MUSEC). She was appointed as the Research and Development Manager at MUSEC in 1993 and as a Research Fellow on completion of her PhD in Special Education in 2006. The focus of Robyn’s doctoral research was effective classroom behavior management which, along with effective approaches to the teaching of reading for students with learning difficulties, continues to be her area of interest and ongoing research.

During her time at MUSEC, Robyn worked closely with Professor Kevin Wheldall in establishing the MultiLit Initiative to assist low-progress readers. She was also a member of the Centre’s management team. Robyn was a Founding Director of the MultiLit Company and continues in this role. She is also the Deputy Director of the MultiLit Research Unit which was created at the same time. Since her retirement from the University in 2011, Robyn has been an Honorary Fellow of the University and has supervised research students in this capacity.

Robyn is the joint founding editor of the new digital publication Nomanis, and has been an Assistant Editor of the journal Educational Psychology and the Australian Journal of Learning Difficulties. She is currently on the Council of Learning Difficulties Australia. Her published work includes ‘An Evaluation of MultiLit’ (2000), commissioned by the Commonwealth Government, as well as numerous research reports, journal articles, conference presentations and popular pieces. Robyn has been an expert witness in cases involving students with additional needs and behaviour problems.