I have degrees in Sociology, Speech Pathology, and Early Childhood Special Education. This has allowed me to slide into various positions within the school system. I have always worked in some capacity of an assessment model of service provision evaluating children aged two – five whose parents/guardians have some level of concern with the child’s development. The arena assessment is approximately two hours of evaluation with the school psychologist, developmental specialist, and speech-language pathologist alternating interactions to gain current level of a child’s abilities in their respective areas of specialties (cognitive/play, fine and gross motor, articulation and receptive/expressive language). The diagnostic classroom model is the same level of assessment completed for three hours daily, over approximately three weeks, giving children the gift of time. This format allows children who are slow to warm up, generally shut-down, refuse tasks, or have interfering behaviors to become comfortable in novel or unfamiliar settings so their true abilities or challenges can be seen.

My work environment is called the Preschool Assessment Center. In addition to the aforementioned assessments, I also hold Initial Special Education meetings to determine if an evaluation is warranted and follow-up with eligibility meetings. If a child is found eligible, I may create a draft of an Individual Education Program (IEP) which outlines the goals, services, and expectations for the following year. When classrooms are filled to capacity, I may carry a caseload to provide services to children in their private preschools, daycare settings, or home environment.

When I am not in the office, I prefer to spend my time taking nature walks, camping, kayaking, beach walking, traveling, or exploring. Therefore, I have always tried to incorporate nature-related, science, or seasonal themes during the assessment or service provision period. For example, if looking at the attached photos, I had the children help build an igloo, shovel “snow”, have snowball fights, and make “Fizzy snowmen” during our winter unit. We went camping in our classroom. We milked cows and drove tractors during our farm unit. During apple season, we picked apples, read 10 Apples Up On Top and had a balancing contest, and built a STEM project. The mounted police visited us. We had a summer swim bash. I exposed them to life skills such as “cooking” lessons. Sometimes the best experiences and teachable moments were spontaneously derived from outdoor activities. (For example; in the pictures of the children threading straw through holes in the playground equipment where they had to effectively communicate and encourage each other as well as incorporate fine motor skills in their play. Here, they were all engaged and actively participating.)

Years ago, I visited the Whitewater Center in Charlotte, and it has been by dream to work there in some capacity. Recently, I sustained a shoulder injury, during a strenuous hike on a trail in Chattanooga, ironically named Julia Falls. While rehabilitating in occupational therapy, I learned from my therapists that there are opportunities to incorporate learning and education while in an outdoor setting. They informed me of experiences and employment opportunities that piqued my interest. Since then, I have been researching various courses, trainings, certifications, and hopefully careers/jobs that integrate the two: the love of the outdoors and the love of learning.

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