- Tell us about yourself: I received both my B.Ed. and M.Ed. in Special Education, 2002 and 2008 respectfully, from Gonzaga University. I received my PhD in School Psychology from the University of Iowa in August of 2016.
- What are you doing now?: I am currently a psychology fellow at the Seattle Children’s Autism Center working in the Biobehavioral and the ABA Early Intervention programs. I specialize in assessing and treating challenging behaviors that often are associated with autism and other disabilities. I have accepted a position with the Child Development Center in Missoula, MT and I will start in October 2017.
- Why did you choose a program in the School of Education at Gonzaga? At the beginning, I just wanted to be at Gonzaga University and I was undecided between majors and academic programs. I was involved in several sports when I was younger and I thought coaching would eventually be in my future. Most of my former coaches were teachers so registered for my first education class with Dr. Tim McLaughlin. I remember loving the discussions in that class and he inspired me to pursue special education. The next semester, I registered for applied behavior analysis (ABA) with Dr. Randy Williams. ABA was life changing for me. Understanding and analyzing the concept of learning through the principles of reinforcement and punishment made intuitive sense to me. I knew I was in the right program after taking that course!
- What influenced you the most during your time at Gonzaga?Each member of the faculty reach out to me, taught me critical skills, and believed in me in different ways throughout my Gonzaga career. Tim was influential in getting me started down the path of special education and for advising throughout my undergrad. Randy was influential in teaching me the foundational principles of ABA and modeling ABA in his teaching. Mark (Derby) was influential by convincing me to pursue my masters at a time when I was so unsure of what to do with my life. Kim (Weber) is influential by modeling leadership and advocacy, not only for the population of students that special educators serve, but for her undergrad and graduate students. Anjali (Barretto) was influential by simultaneously modeling passion for our science and compassion for all the children who walk in our doors. She was also instrumental in my choice to pursue my PhD at University of Iowa and to work with Dave Wacker. It was the most difficult, but by far the most rewarding choice of my life.
- What was your greatest lesson learned at Gonzaga? Gonzaga taught me several valuable lessons two of which come immediately to mind. First, I learned is that Gonzaga will always be a second home and Gonzaga’s faculty, staff, and fellow alumni are family. Between graduating from Gonzaga with my bachelor’s and coming back to earn my master’s, I sustained a life-changing traumatic brain injury (TBI). I was at St. Luke’s Rehabilitation and Deaconess for several weeks. But the time went by fast because I had so many visitors. Tim and Randy among them. As soon as I could, I began volunteering at Gonzaga as a rowing assistant coach and would walk across campus to visit the SPED faculty regularly. I was always welcome at Gonzaga! Learning how to navigate the world of disability while showing individuals their true abilities was the second lesson I Iearned at Gonzaga. From writing an individual education plan (IEP) to researching rare genetic syndromes, I learned that that the word “disability” is multi-faceted. At the same time, every individual has amazing abilities.
- What is the most rewarding aspect of working in your field? Most challenging? Strength: Seeing the growth in a child and showing parents their child’s strengths through your data. For example, I recently saw a 5-year-old girl with destructive behavior. Her mother just wanted to keep her safe. We implemented a play intervention to teach her to play with her toys instead of throwing them and the outcomes were successful. Her mother was brought to tears when she saw her daughter playing and said, “she has never done that before!”Challenge: Keeping up with the need.
- What critical issues do you see that need to be addressed in your field? Making quality services more accessible.
- What advice do you have for future education professionals? “When in doubt… persist, don’t punt.” A quote from Dave Wacker.
Tag: specialeducation
- Tell us about yourself: My name is Clare Sykora (Alexander). I completed my Bachelor of Education in Special Education (’08) and Master of Education in Special Education – Functional Analysis (’11).
- What are you doing now?: I am finishing up my 9th year of teaching self-contained classes in public schools and will begin to teach at the Spokane Guilds School in July.
- Why did you choose a program in the School of Education at Gonzaga? I chose GU for my undergrad degree to be able to earn both my elementary and special education certifications within four years. I chose to return to GU for my masters degree because of the concise nature of the FA program (1 1/2 years) and the flexibility of the classes when I was still working during the days. Also, it was great to be able to work with my former professors and obtain my early childhood special education certification at the same time.
- What influenced you the most during your time at Gonzaga? Dr. Anjali Barretto was immensely integral to my choice of occupation. I took her Psychology of the Exceptional Child class and the service-learning component changed how I viewed the world. I volunteered at L’Arche and quickly learned how special it was to participate in helping individuals learn skills. The joy that each successful step brings me is my motivation to continue to serve those with disabilities. Dr. Barretto’s direction and support from that point forward shaped both the way I learn and the educator I am today.
- What was your greatest lesson learned at Gonzaga? The most important lesson I learned while at GU was that it doesn’t matter if each moment is perfect, it is the ultimate outcome that results in how impactful one’s work is.
- What is the most rewarding aspect of working in your field? Most challenging? Working in the Special Education field takes patience, love, and consistency. My largest rewards come when a student achieves their goals and teaching them to be proud of those achievements. Smiles. Smiles and laughter keep me working in the field. The most challenging component of working with individuals with special needs is lack of education from those surrounding us. It takes a lot of understanding and acceptance for people to support the work we do with students and the more we can educate them on how influential our work is, the better.
- What critical issues do you see that need to be addressed in your field? In my opinion, a critical issue that needs to be addressed in the field of Special Education is the need for funding to address early intervention. Although IDEA Part C partially funds early intervention, the more attention and therapies we can provide for at an earlier age, the better chance of individuals not needing interventions later in life; or for as long of a time span.
- What advice do you have for future education professionals? Chocolate. There will be times, situations, and issues that will make you want to cry and moments that will make you question your choice of profession. When those moments arise, open your always stocked drawer and pop a chocolate in your mouth. Savor the flavor and laugh. Laugh because it will make you feel better and embrace the moment. It will happen again and you will always learn to keep more chocolate on hand 🙂
- Tell us about yourself: Adam Membrey. I earned a Bachelor of Education in Special Education in 2009.
- What are you doing now?: I just finished my 5th year teaching Deaf students with special needs in the Special Needs Department at the Texas School for the Deaf. I have taught Elementary School, Middle School, and will be lead teaching High School-aged kids next year. We really are unlike any other program in the country in the way we serve our kids with the needs they have.
- Why did you choose a program in the School of Education at Gonzaga? As a freshmen at Gonzaga, I took a “Children with Exceptionalities” class with Dr. Barretto. The class covered interesting material, but what stuck to me the most was the atmosphere in the Special Education department. It had a different, slightly funky, but ultimately inviting feel to it. When I found myself in a moment of crisis at the end of my sophomore year and needed to move on from my English Major (Sorry English Department! You guys were great!), I knew I would be entering the right program with Special Education. Everything that happened beyond that only reinforced how great a decision it was.
- What influenced you the most during your time at Gonzaga? Randy Williams taught me that I could have fun while being a highly-productive, effective teacher. Tim McLaughlin taught me to back up my files multiple times, but to never lose sight of the relationships I build with my students. Kimberly Weber opened my mind, taught me to relax, and gave me life lessons when I needed them. Anjali Barretto taught me to get on my knees and be at the students’ eye-level (and not just because I was tall and she was, um, not-as-tall). I now realize that everything I learned from my Special Education professors had very little to do with instruction itself – that would be the easy part – but with how to survive in Special Ed and what to not lose sight of. I needed to learn how important the intangibles were, and they each gave me masterful examples of that in their own way.One particular memory that sticks out to me is a time I came into Dr. Barretto’s office. I was actually there to whine about something that had nothing to do with class or teaching, and she simply smiled and asked me, repeatedly, “So what’s the problem?” It didn’t matter what I gave her back, she asked the same thing. I shortly after realized that the answer didn’t matter. She simply wanted me to think about it for myself, take stock of the situation, realize it wasn’t a big deal, and to problem-solve from there.It was a great lesson that I learned in my time at GU.
- What was your greatest lesson learned at Gonzaga? My junior year at Gonzaga, I took a fantastic class with Dr. Joe Albert, “Leadership and Storytelling.” Throughout the semester, we each had to tell a story about ourselves – something personal, something about our family, and then something about a greater thing we were a part of, be it a group, a department, or a company. The whole class made me realize not only how important stories are, but how we use them to help us explain the many things we see – both fair and unfair – in our daily lives. Dr. Albert also taught me how I could take any situation, no matter how dire or depressing, and reframe the story into something meaningful and propulsive. I can’t tell you how many times I have been in the Special Ed field and a teacher has practically withered as they told me about a student’s heartbreaking situation; I would do my best to help reframe the story so that we had something to build on. I use this storytelling muscle and awareness every single day – with myself, my friends, my family, the world that surrounds me. In my time since graduating Gonzaga, I have been confronted by, and a part of, so many difficult situations, and all of them were made survivable by using storytelling. It truly is one of the greatest tools anyone can learn to use.
- What is the most rewarding aspect of working in your field? Most challenging? The most rewarding aspect is when I look at mu students and realize I have created a special place for them where they not only feel comfortable, but welcome. Where they can be who they are, can communicate the way they want, and they can be silly without fearing judgment. So often the kids we work with in Special Ed are constantly looked down upon by people of all ages and stages in life; they can only thrive from a place of comfort, and that’s what we can provide them.The most challenging aspect of our field is not the paperwork (though it sucks) or the parents (they can be our best ally), but the attitudes of the adults around the students. So often I’ve had to get adults to understand just how much the student is capable of; but also to understand their limits and to work with them. What is most heartbreaking of all is when I’m in an IEP meeting in which lawyers and advocates are involved and I see a whole table full of adults arguing for reasons that have absolutely nothing to do with a student and everything to do with their own ego preservation. They are not there for what’s best for the child; they’re trying to one-up everyone else. Fortunately, it doesn’t happen as often as it could, but it still happens far too often.
- What critical issues do you see that need to be addressed in your field? In Special Education, there needs to be an adjustment of expectations. There are still way too many programs that expect so little of their students and allow them to become too comfortable at their baselines when they are capable of doing much, much more.In Deaf Education, the situation is so much more complex. There are so many factors that affect progress – both in increasing it and shooting it down – but the primary one, to me, is the politics of it. The fact is that 90% of deaf students have hearing parents, and we are still struggling as a whole to figure out how to serve those students and parents best so that the child has an opportunity to lead the best life they can. I love ASL and teaching with it, but I also recognize it is not the best language for every deaf child and certainly every set of parents. We have to roll up our sleeves and be flexible in how best to give a child a language, and to help the parents support that the best way they can. There is so much exciting progress in the field of Deaf Education, but there is still so far to go.
- What advice do you have for future education professionals? Learn not to take it personally and keep yourself in the moment. Starting out as a teacher, the hardest thing is to not feel responsible for a program or a student not doing well as you think they should. It’s even harder when that student directs their anger or frustration or whatever it may be at you – you are simply a target, but it feels personal. And that can be agonizing. So my suggestion to future education professionals is to remove your ego and yourself from the situation as much as possible. Know you will often unfairly be a target or used as a scapegoat for others’ issues, but never, ever lose sight of the fact that you can dictate the atmosphere in your classroom and you have control over the relationships you develop with your students. You can make your job as wonderful and as difficult as you want it to be, and it starts with calming the storm within you so that the seas are smoother for everyone around you.Also: never, ever be afraid to ask for help or say you don’t know. Don’t wait for someone to tell you what to do. Pay attention to what you don’t do and do everything you can to fill that gap on your own. You will feel stupid sometimes, and that’s okay. That’s normal anytime you do something new and complex. But don’t ever stop asking for help or talking to people who know more than you do. And then, after that, it becomes that great Maya Angelou quote: “Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better.”