A-LIST Spotlight: Intervention Specialist Sara Harris at Kettering Middle School

We are always looking for middle and high school teachers to add to our ALIST. We are so happy to add Sara Harris from Kettering Middle School! She has over 11 years of experience working as an intervention specialist and she has worked in junior high and high school programs that serve students with mild to intense needs. Today we are excited to share more about Sara and what makes her an A-LISTer!

Last year, Sara teamed up with our SLP, Carol Dittoe, to present “Autism Awareness, Advocacy, and Accountability”. Sara sat with one of her students to give us input from both a teacher’s and a student’s view.  We love the way Sara builds trusting relationships with her students. Sara and Carol will be presenting this topic as a facilitated discussion at OCALICONLINE 2023 in November.

To learn more about our OCALICON2023 Presentations, don't miss this post: 

Join Us at OCALICON 2023!

 

Sara has worked as a transition coordinator, and currently facilitates students transitioning from junior high to high school. She uses an at-a-glance form to provide the new team with important information. 

The student we featured in our presentation was nervous about transitioning to high school this fall. He asked his mom if he could visit “Harris” before going to high school. Sara has done such a nice job developing a supportive relationship with this student and was able to send him off with some encouraging words. 

 

In addition to working with us, Sara co-led the southwest Ohio MAP team that works with OCALI and Ohio Means Jobs, which helps families navigate through the transition process. Harris was the 2017 Project Excellence Teacher of the Year and served as a mentor teacher.

 

Sara works hard to provide visual supports and self-advocacy tools for her students. Below are some examples. She created cue cards for a student to let others know how he was feeling or what he needed. We love that she got his input on the pictures to use and what to call each card. She found a light that can be changed to different colors. This was a great tool for the student to communicate his emotional needs in a more subtle way. 

Sara uses proactive strategies to support her students such as a daily Zones check-in and clear classroom expectations.

We are so happy to have Sara as an example in building relationships, teaching self-advocacy, and facilitating self-determination for middle school and high school students. When we observe at Kettering Middle School we can see how much the students love her. We love her too! Thanks Sara!