JOLEEN HIGGIN
Early in her career as a speech therapist, Joleen was hired by the Prince George County School District in Maryland to develop a speech and language program for their twenty-four secondary schools. At this time she began working with the deaf and hard of hearing students, as well as mainstream students requiring speech/language services.
Wanting to return to her native California, Joleen worked for eleven years in the San Mateo Union High School District. There, her assignments included special day classes for developmentally delayed, and the deaf and hard of hearing children.
Following this, Joleen went to Southern California to work in the Norwalk-La Mirada School District. While there, she worked with students in special day classes for the orthopedically handicapped and severely emotionally disabled. She also continued to work with students in mainstream classes.
For the past eleven years, Joleen has been working in the Palo Alto Unified School District in Northern California, where she specializes in working with children on the autism spectrum and continues to serve students with traditional speech/language issues.
Joleen has played an integral role in providing in-service training to her speech/language colleagues and school faculty on how to work effectively with children requiring special needs. She is also responsible for the training and on-going support of the aides who work along side of students with special needs.
Joleen received her undergraduate degree from UC Santa Barbara in Kinesiology and her Masters in Education from the University of Virginia specializing in speech and hearing pathology.
Joleen lives in Northern California with her husband. [mail me]
LAURIE SHEA
Laurie, one of four children, was born and raised in San Francisco, California. After graduation, she began a long banking career. Twenty four years later, Laurie retired from the bank as a VP of Customer Service for the IT Department and began her new career as a paraprofessional in the public school system.
For the past six years Laurie has been working in the Palo Alto Unified School District with elementary-age children. She has worked with typically developing children that have social/emotional/behavioral issues, children on the autism spectrum, children with learning disabilities, and children with ADHD and/or NLD. Laurie has played an integral role in developing organizational systems for these kids, especially in the 4th and 5th grades. Laurie has also worked extensively with children in kindergarten and 1st grades developing their social and problem solving skills. She has played an integral role in training other paraprofessionals who also work with special-needs students in the mainstream classrooms.
Laurie has been an effective liaison in addressing the needs from home-to-school, teacher-to-parent, and parent-to-teacher. She has been a powerful force in bringing parents, educators, and support staff together to work effectively on the same page!
Laurie currently lives in Northern California with her husband, their two daughters, and two rescued kitties. [mail me]
