Melodee A. Walker, MEd, is a doctoral student and researcher at The University of Texas at Austin studying learning disabilities and behavior disorders. She serves on research teams at The Meadows Center for Preventing Educational Risk examining the impact of multicomponent reading interventions and investigating systems and programs as they are related to improved outcomes for students with disabilities across the nation. Prior to beginning her doctoral studies, Melodee was a teacher in general and special education classrooms across diverse settings. She has also worked in the private sector providing remediation, evaluation, consulting, and advocacy services for students with learning differences. She is currently vice president of the Chicago-based nonprofit organization Empower LD. Her primary research interests include diagnosis and remediation of learning disability, effective reading instruction for students with learning disabilities, and the pedagogical role of student and teacher talk in reading instruction.