Special Education/Expert Profile

Expertise

I have spent 38 years in the area of Special Education. I have had the pleasure of teaching pre-school, elementary, middle, high school and college levels, as well as, served in school district administration buildings in classroom/legal support positions. I have also spent 3 years working in a State Department of Education Exceptional Student Services Office and am now currently teaching college students how to be special educators at Northern Arizona University-Tucson.

Experience in the area

I have experienced directly special education legal issues, process and procedure, and have taught at all levels in every special education category except gifted. My major expertise is diagnostic prescriptive teaching.

Organizations

Council for Exceptional Children, Association for the Supervision of Curriculum, National Reading Council.

Publications

Teaching Exceptional Children, Published computer assisted instruction, titled PAL, Special Education Basics, college Textbook, Teaching with Precision, college Textbook, Various devotionals at the website, Preachitteachit.com.

Education/Credentials

I have a B.A. in Secondary Education, a Masters in Special Education (cross categorical), administrative certification, and a second B.A. in Elementary Education. I am in the process of completing my Doctorate in Educational Leadership, which should be concluded within the next couple of years.

Awards and Honors

Best Summer Program in the Nation (Honorable Mention, when I was Teaching) Multiple local awards

What do you like about this subject?

I love children. I love teaching. I love watching a students entire being light up when they learn something new...this has been an awesome career! Maybe I will never retire.

What do you still hope to achieve/learn in this field?

I would like to leave a legasy of quality instruction for all students, especially those with disabilities. That includes many things yet to learn, like more how the brain functions, more about the precision of teaching, more about educational reform and on and on.

Something interesting about this subject that others may not know:

Special education students are more like their peers than they are unlike them.

Something controversial or provocative about this subject

We have yet to reach the level of intensity needed to give mildly disabled students a change to succeed in school. Too large of teaching groups, lack of data based, research supported instruction, inclusion practices only for the sake of including are huge barriers.