Rate My Professor Terri Hessler

Terri Hessler serves as an Associate Professor in the Department of Educational Studies within the College of Education and Human Ecology at The Ohio State University, with a focus on special education at the Newark campus. She holds a PhD in Special Education—Applied Behavior Analysis from The Ohio State University (2005), an MA in Teaching, Secondary Education from Kent State University (1990), and a BA in English from the same institution (1988). Before entering higher education, Hessler worked as a classroom teacher from 1991 to 2002, teaching middle and secondary English/language arts, reading, social studies, and serving as a secondary intervention specialist in suburban and urban public schools. She joined OSU Newark as an Assistant Professor in 2005, advancing to Associate Professor in 2012.

Hessler's academic interests encompass effective reading instruction, literacy, applied behavior analysis, teacher education, and strategies for students struggling with reading, particularly those with dyslexia. She is a Certified Master Trainer-Institutional Level in the Yoshimoto Approach to Reading Instruction and a Structured Language Dyslexia Interventionist. In 2019, she established the Dyslexia Intervention and Screening Clinic (DISC) at OSU Newark, offering free dyslexia screenings for individuals aged 5 to 99 and training pre-service teachers in structured literacy tutoring. Her research examines interventions to enhance vocabulary and reading skills in adolescents and adults with dyslexia, as well as writing instruction for students with disabilities. Key publications include "Teaching writing for keeps" (Alber-Morgan et al., 2007, Education and Treatment of Children), "Differentiated writing interventions for high-achieving urban African American elementary students" (Geisler et al., 2009, Journal of Advanced Academics), "Using curriculum-based measurement to drive IEPs and instruction in written expression" (Hessler & Konrad, 2009, TEACHING Exceptional Children), and "Effects of GO FASTER on morpheme definition fluency for high school students with high-incidence disabilities" (Fishley et al., 2012, Learning Disabilities Research & Practice). Hessler received the 2025 Champion of Change Award from the Central Ohio Branch of the International Dyslexia Association, where she has served on the Board of Directors since 2013. She has also contributed as an ad hoc reviewer for journals and co-investigator on U.S. Department of Education grants totaling over $199,000 for intervention specialist teacher preparation programs.