About ACT

The Autism & Low-Incidence Coaching Team (ACT) is a job-embedded professional development program for building the capacity of educators to serve students with autism and low-incidence disabilities in the Region 10 area of Ohio near Dayton. We serve districts in Montgomery, Preble, Darke, Clark, Greene, and Miami counties.  

Low-incidence disabilities include: multiple disabilities, hearing impairment, orthopedic impairment, visual impairment, deaf-blindness, deafness, other health impairments (major), and traumatic brain injury.

Services must be requested by a representative of the school district in which the student lives by contacting the ACT secretary, Mary Fryman, at the Montgomery County Educational Service Center- Regional Center at (937) 236-9965.

ACT services include, but are not limited to:

• Onsite coaching of educational team members (teacher, IS, OT, SLP, counselor, paraprofessionals, special education director, principal, therapist, psychologist, etc.) in evidence based practices for individual students or classrooms.
• Observation and recommendations for individualized sensory, communication, instructional and behavioral support strategies
• Professional development sessions at the MCESC Regional Center and in district
• Participation with our A-LIST network of classrooms for observation of evidence based practices in action
• Facilitate collaboration across educational team members to help support transfer and generalization of evidence based practices across settings
• Access our Lending Library of books, equipment, and visual supports

• Intervention Specialists Allison Officer and Jackie Vollmer specialize in classroom referrals, academic differentiation, and instructional supports. 

Allison Officer
Allison Officer is a licensed intervention specialist (K-12). Prior to joining the ACT Team, Allison taught in Mad River Local Schools in Riverside, OH, as a K-4 intervention specialist in a cross-categorical resource room. Officer received a BS in education from the University of Dayton and an MS in education from Walden University.

Jackie Vollmer

• Speech and Language Pathologist Carol Dittoe specializes in functional communication, augmentative and alternative communication (AAC), and social skills. 

Carol Dittoe
Carol Dittoe has over 35 years of experience working as an SLP in both medical and educational settings. Her focus has been autism, augmentative communication, and assistive technology. She has co-authored two books with AAPC Publishing, including the winner of the 2018 Teacher's Choice Award, Show Me: A Teacher's Guide to Video Modeling.

• Occupational Therapist Lynn DeMange specializes in sensory processing, self-management, and regulation supports. 

Lynn DeMange
Lynn DeMange, OTR/L, CAS, graduated from Shawnee State University and worked for 4 years as an OT in clinical care at The Ohio State University Harding Hospital. In 2006, she transitioned to school-based therapy and worked for 10 years through the Miami Valley Regional Center before joining the Autism & Low-Incidence Coaching Team.

All of our coaches are Certified Autism Specialists and specialize in behavior interventions.

ACT Speech & Language Pathologist Carol Dittoe

ACT Occupational Therapist Lynn DeMange

ACT Intervention Specialist Allison Officer