Cristina Sanchez-Lopez is a consultant at the Illinois Resource Center (IRC). She collaborates with educators in the United States and Canada on the ELL/ELD/LD¹ interface, middle school mathematics, literacy across the content areas, parent involvement, and supporting prekindergarten educators who serve English-language learners. Prior to coming to the IRC, Cristina taught at the elementary, middle school, and university levels in the United States and Mexico. Cristina and her husband have raised their daughter bilingually. Christina collaborates with the Erikson Institute in Chicago, Kindergarten Early Language Intervention programs in Ontario, STARnet, Illinois Early Childhood, and prekindergarten programs in Illinois.

1. The ELL/ELD/LD interface refers to English-language learners (ELLs) and English literacy development (ELD) students (students who have limited formal schooling) who are having difficulty in school. When these students' behavior is discussed in school problem-solving team meetings, these teams try to determine the cause of the difficulties--whether they are predictable ELL difficulties or whether they are caused by more intrinsic disabilities or disorders (LD-learning disabilities).