| Contributors to the Learning Centre | ||
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| SET-BC would like to highlight the people from British Columbia's assistive technology community who have helped to develop the resources and training modules in our online Learning Centre. They have willingly shared their teaching strategies and curriculum materials, providing examples of "best practice" in the implementation of assistive technology. | ||
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Kim Antonius Training Manager Bridges Canada Kim Antonius is a Bridges Training Specialist and Manager of the Bridges Training Program. She is a speech-language pathologist who has specialized in augmentative and alternative communication for 10 years. She has lead and participated in numerous research projects investigating the implementation of technology in the classroom. She has extensive experience in training and facilitating teams to use and implement assistive technology solutions to support the needs of students. |
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Susie Blackstien-Adler Training Specialist Bridges Canada Susie Blackstien-Adler has worked for over 15 years in the field of augmentative and alternative communication with the Bloorview MacMillan Children's Centre. She also provides training to school teams as one of Bridges-Canada's training specialists. Susie has delivered presentations and workshops on a variety of AAC topics both locally and internationally. She teaches an AAC module to Occupational Therapy students at the University of Toronto. She has been involved in research relating to computer access and to the inclusion of students in education programs. She is co-author of "Communicate", a communication software module and Home Study Guide for adults. |
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Karen D. Bopp Assistive Technology Consultant UBC Dr. Karen D. Bopp is a post-doctoral fellow at the University of BC, a certified Speech-Language Pathologist, and the Senior Behaviour Consultant for the BC Ministry of Children and Family Development in Child and Youth Special Needs Policy. Her current research examines the relationships between prelinguistic communicative behaviors and early intervention outcomes in children with autism. She received her Ph.D. in Special Education from the University of British Columbia in 2006. Karen has worked extensively with children with autism and their families for over 17 years and was a co-founder of the Autism Early Intensive Behavior Intervention Program in the districts of Surrey, Langley, and Delta in BC in 2001. |
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John Beames Assistive Technology Consultant SET-BC John Beames is a SET-BC assistive technology consultant who provides services, including consultation, training, resources, and support for implementation, for Peace River South, Peace River North, and Fort Nelson school districts. |
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Doug Bowes Assistive Technology Consultant SET-BC Doug Bowes is a SET-BC assistive technology consultant who provides services, including consultation, training, resources, and support for implementation, for Victoria and Port Alberni school districts on Vancouver Island. |
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Mallory Burton Assistive Technology Consultant SET-BC Mallory Burton is located in SET-BC's Northcoast office, which serves the Queen Charlotte, Coast Mountains, Nisga'a, BulkleyValley, and Prince Rupert School Districts. Prior to working for SET-BC, she taught kindergarten, English as a Second Language, and Learning Assistance. Mallory's favourite projects at SET-BC have included Variety Math, Accessible Books, Vision Tech Camp, and developing the PSAP training materials for Kurzweil 3000. A member of SET-BC's Vision Focus Group, she has also presented at numerous B.C., national, and international conferences including SEA, CSUN, and Closing the Gap. |
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Rick Cordingley Assistive Technology Consultant SET-BC Rick Cordingley is a SET-BC assistive technology consultant who provides services, including consultation, training, resources, and support for implementation, for four school districts in the Thompson-Okanagan region of British Columbia. |
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Elaine Ferguson Training SET-BC Elaine Ferguson is a member of SET-BC's provincial resource team, coordinating the provincial training program and working on SET-BC's online resource and training initiatives. Her experience with supporting students who use assistive technology began in the mid-80s when she taught students with multiple disabilities and augmentative communication needs in Vancouver. She joined SET-BC in 1989 and continues to enjoy the opportunity of working within BC's assistive technology community. |
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Kelly Fonner Consultant / Trainer Kelly Fonner is a self-employed consultant and trainer in the areas of assistive and educational technology. She has been working with individuals with disabilities since the mid 1970s and has many years of experience in assistive technology. Her experiences have been as a teacher assistant, teacher, instructional media specialist and assistive technology consultant in early childhood, preschool and school age programs. She has consulted to university and adult programs concerning access to technology by persons with disabilities. Kelly speaks internationally on a wide range of topics including access, technology integration, AAC, literacy, library access, consultation, assessment, and implementation strategies. |
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Yvonne Green Assistive Technology Consultant SET-BC Yvonne Green is a speech and language pathologist working as an Assistive Technology Consultant at SET-BC in Vancouver. She has a B. Sc. and an MA in Speech and Language Pathology. She began her career working in the deaf community with a focus on Total Communication. For over 20 years she has supported a range of segregated and integrated students with autism and developmental challenges in the school system. Her passion is in providing strategies to make communication fun and functional using a variety of low to high tech assistive technologies. |
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Graham Hardy Graham is a grade 11 student in Surrey , British Columbia whose interests include computers, music, and languages. To access his laptop computer, Graham uses JAWS for Windows, and a BrailleNote. Graham provides invaluable assistance to SET-BC, exploring new and emerging technologies for the blind. Graham plays the trumpet in the school concert band, the senior jazz band, and in a jazz quartet. Graham, a French immersion student, is currently studying English, French, Spanish and German. |
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Shel Harris Assistive Technology Consultant SET-BC Shel Harris, (Occupational Therapist) is employed as a SET-BC assistive technology consultant. He provides services, including consultation, training, resources, and support for implementation, for five school districts in the central and Northern region of British Columbia. (School Districts #27, (Cariboo-Chilcotin), #28, (Quesnel), #57 (Prince George), #87, (Stikine) and #91, (Nechako Lakes). |
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Susan Harrison Bio Coming Soon |
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Suzanne Harwood Assistive Technology Consultant Suzanne Harwood is a speech-language pathologist working as an assistive technology consultant for SET-BC on Vancouver Island since 2005. She is based in Victoria, providing support to teams in the Gulf Islands, Saanich, Victoria, and Central Coast school districts. Suzanne has worked in a variety of settings over the past 11 years: child development centres, health units, school districts, and private practice, and the majority of her work has been with children that have complex communication and learning needs. |
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Lorraine
Kamp Lorraine Kamp is an Augmentative Communication Consultant for School District 36, Surrey. She is a sessional instructor at UBC in the faculty of Educational Psychology and Special Education and is also an instructor on topics in Special Education at Capilano University College and Kwantlen University. |
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Colette Massie Assistive Technology Consultant SET-BC Colette Massie is the SET-BC Regional Coordinator for the lower mainland /southwest BC regional office and the contact for Burnaby and New Westminster school districts. She is a speech language pathologist who has worked in AAC since its early beginnings as a field of practice and in assistive technology since 1993. In addition to being a member of the AAC interest group at SET-BC Colette has worked on a variety of SET-BC projects over the years, most recently "Building Assistive Technology Communities" She is a strong supporter of Quality Indicators for Assistive Technology (QIAT) and been an active participant in the development and dissemination of these indicators. Colette has also been a presenter at national and international conferences including CASLPA CEC and CSUN. |
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Constance McAvoy Resources SET-BC Constance McAvoy is the resources and projects coordinator for SET-BC's Provincial Resource Team. Constance has a Master's in Arts, Administration and Instruction, studying technology and literacy. Constance's background includes secondary Mathematics, Learning Assistance, Assistive Technology Consultant for SET-BC Vancouver Island and the AT-BC Program, and sessional lecturer in Special Needs Technology for the University of Victoria and the University of British Columbia. |
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Daphne
Mercier Assistive Technology Consultant SET-BC Daphne Mercier is provincial consultant for SET-BC. She is a member of the provincial training and resource team and provides online software instruction and resource development for SET-BC. She has a Bachelor of Teaching (secondary) degree from UBC and has taught Skill Development, Learning Assistance, English, Art, Math and English as a Second Language. She has a diploma in ESL and a Masters Degree in Arts (Curriculum) with a focus on students with autism. |
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Dr. Pat Mirenda Associate Professor UBC Pat Mirenda is a Professor in the Department of Educational and Counseling Psychology and Special Education at the University of British Columbia, where she has been on faculty since 1996. The third edition of her co-authored book “Augmentative and alternative communication: Supporting children and adults and complex communication needs” was published in 2005. Her latest book on “Autism and augmentative/alternative communication” will be published in 2008. Her current research includes a Canada-wide study of developmental trajectories in children with autism and a study of the predictors of early intervention outcomes for children with autism and their families. |
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Scott Marfilius has been working with individuals with disabilities for the past 26 years. The past 20 years has involved implementing assistive technology at various levels. He continues to assist teams and individuals in assessing students assistive technology needs. His teaching certifications are in Early Childhood Handicap, Cognitive Disabilities, Emotional Disabilities, and Learning Disabilities. His M.A. is in Curriculum and Instruction. Scott also works with universities and has assisted in reorganizing their curriculum to infuse technology throughout the teacher preparation experience. He also consults with individuals and businesses to determine adaptations that are needed in workplace settings. He teaches in the CSUN Assistive Technology Applications Certificate Program and holds an ATACP certificate of learning from CSUN. Scott’s focus areas in assistive technology include computer access, and technologies that assist those with cognitive and learning disabilities. |
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Vicky Midtdal Assistive Technology Consultant Bio coming soon. |
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Dr. Caroline Musselwhite Assistive Technology Specialist Dr. Caroline Musselwhite is an assistive technology specialist with more than 25 years of experience working with students with severe disabilities in educational settings. Dr. Musselwhite has written a number of textbooks and "how-to-books"on a range of topics and has also authored software programs for children with disabilities. She has presented hundreds of workshops and is a founding member of the International Society for Augmentative and Alternative Communication. |
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Karen Neill Assistive Technology Consultant VSB Karen Neill is a certified speech-language pathologist who specializes in the AAC field, and has been making communication accessible to individuals with all levels of language and physical ability for over five years. Karen often guest lectures at local colleges, teaching AAC and technology to students who are becoming support workers and teachers assistants. Karen has an undergraduate degree in linguistics from McGill University in Montreal and a Masters in Speech-Language Pathology from the University of British Columbia. |
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Sharon O'Dornan Assistive Technology Consultant SET-BC Sharon O'Dornan is a Speech-Language Pathologist currently employed as a SET-BC Assistive Technology Consultant on Vancouver Island. Sharon has worked as an Augmentative Communication consultant in School District 44, North Vancouver and taught special education courses at UBC, Capilano University College and Kwantlen University College. |
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Jim Oliver Jim Oliver is a SET-BC assistive technology consultant who provides services, including consultation, training, resources, and support for implementation, for Peace River South, Peace River North, and Fort Nelson school districts. Prior to joining SET-BC, Jim worked for SD #59 for 28 years as a classroom teacher, elementary counsellor, secondary counsellor, and alternative education administrator. He also taught a variety of courses at Northern Lights College. |
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Christine Purcell APSEA From 1994-2004, Christine Purcell was a Vision Resource Teacher in S.D.#36 (Surrey) in the southwestern corner of BC's mainland, bordering Washington State. Throughout that time, with the support of SET-BC, she participated with her students in piloting and implementing a number of technological tools. In 2004, Christine moved from the Pacific to the Atlantic and joined APSEA (Atlantic Provinces Special Education Authority). Christine is currently located in Charlotte County of New Brunswick bordering the state of Maine. She continues to serves educational teams as an Itinerant Teacher for Blind and Visually Impaired Students. |
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Vicky
Radley Vicky Radley is a District Resource Teacher with School District #79 Cowichan Valley. She is also an EBS Coach (Effective Behaviour Support). Helping schools and teams build inclusive communities and effective programmes for all students is her passion. |
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Kerry Randle eLearning / ARC-BC SET-BC Kerry Randle is a member of the SET-BC Provincial Resource team, coordinating and developing various eLearning initiatives and working in partnership with PRCVI on the Accessible Resource Centre (ARC-BC). After teaching for 12 years at the elementary and middle school levels, she joined SET-BC in 1999 as the Region 4 Consultant where she enjoyed the beautiful scenery of the Kootenays, providing assistive technology support to school based teams in six school districts. She continued this role moving to Region 2 (North Shore) in 2004. Her main interests include online learning environments and technology-based solutions for students with autism spectrum disorders. |
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Dave Rathwell Assistive Technology Consultant SET-BC Dave Rathwell is a SET-BC Assistive Technology Consultant for Region 2, based in the Fraser Valley. He has been involved in assistive technologies for students who are blind or have low vision since 1989. During that time he has developed curricula for teaching a variety of Braille technologies and has presented them at regional, national and international conferences. Dave also co-teaches the technology course for teachers of students with visual impairments at the University of British Columbia. He has been instrumental in the development of Braille Quest, a technology and career awareness summer program for youth who are blind. |
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Chris
Rolls Chris Rolls teaches in a multi-age classroom in the rural setting of Youbou, BC, School District 79 Cowichan Valley. Chris is working on a Masters Degree in Literacy and Metacognition. She presents workshops in "Early Literacy" for Malaspina College and the Rural Teacher Conferences. Chris believes that teachers need to share resources and "work smarter, not harder." |
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Jane
Rondow Assistive Technology Consultant SET-BC Jane Rondow is the SET-BC consultant for the Victoria, Cowichan Valley and Parksville school district on Vancouver Island. Her current interests lie in developing and supporting literacy strategies for students with special needs and low and high tech support for students with Autism. |
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Kathy Ryan Assistive Technology Consultant SET-BC Kathy Ryan is a speech language pathologist working as an Assistive Technology Consultant for SET-BC in Penticton providing support for students and teams in the central and southern Okanagan, Nicola and Similkameen regions of B.C. She has a bachelor's degree in psychology from Wilfrid Laurier University and a master's degree in speech language pathology from the University of Western Ontario. Kathy has worked in Ontario, Alberta and B.C. in a variety of settings in her over 20 years of practice including hospitals, health units, universities and school districts. She has had a longstanding passion for learning strategies that include assistive technology. |
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Howard Shane Director, Communication Enhancement Center Children's Hospital Boston Howard Shane, Ph.D. is the Director of the Communication Enhancement Center (CEC) at Children's Hospital Boston. Dr. Shane is a Fellow of the American Speech and Hearing Association and the recipient of the Goldenson Award for Innovations in Technology from United Cerebral Palsy Association. |
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Catherine
Smith Consultant Catherine Smith, M.ED, began her teaching career as a high school teacher. For the past 20 years, Catherine has supported students with ASDs and their teams as a Learning Assistance teacher, then as an Integration Support teacher. She presently works as a Behavioral Consultant for the BC Provincial Outreach Program for Autism and Related Disorders. |
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Laurie
Smith |
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Lois Turner Regional Consultant SET-BC Lois Turner, M.S., S-LP(C), CCC-Sp, is a Speech-Language Pathologist currently employed as an Assistive Technology Consultant at SET-BC. She has worked in many settings with preschoolers, students and adults who use augmentative/alternative communication systems and additional assistive technology. Her current work is focused on creating communication opportunities for nonspeaking students and supporting students to learn literacy skills based on the Four Block Balanced Literacy model. |
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Darick Wright Perkins School for the Blind Darick Wright holds a Master's Degree in Rehabilitation for the Blind: Orientation and Mobility, with certifications in O&M and Low Vision Therapy. He currently coordinates services at the New England Eye Institute Clinic at Perkins School for the Blind. In addition he is adjunct faculty at the University of Massachusetts - Boston, Graduate College of Education and the New England College of Optometry. Involved in the field of visual impairment since 1985, he has lived and worked in the Boston area for the last 8 years. Prior to this he was full-time faculty at the University of Arkansas - Little Rock, Orientation and Mobility Program. |
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