A-LIST Induction 2025

Our team is thrilled to introduce one of our largest groups of new inductees into our Autism & Low-Incidence Coaching Team’s “A-LIST”. Our A-LIST stands for Autism-Low Incidence Support Team and is comprised of a regional network of select professionals who exhibit “best practices” in serving the needs of students who have autism or other complex, low-incidence disabilities. Our A-LIST began in 2012 in an effort to recognize outstanding individuals who had exceeded the high expectations of our coaching process, and who represented the best that our region had to offer to students with disabilities. Only a fraction of the educators we coach each year are nominated. The A-LIST truly represents the BEST professionals in our region.

The goal of the MCESC Autism & Low-Incidence Coaching Team is to build the capacity of our region’s administrators, teachers, intervention specialists, related service providers, and paraprofessionals to serve children with autism and other complex disabilities. The A-LIST serves a critical role in that mission by maintaining a multi-disciplinary network of outstanding practitioners across all 6 counties we serve. We often refer our coaching teams to our A-LIST members for practical, “in the trenches” perspectives, advice, and occasional modeling of best practices.

In today's A-LIST Spotlight we will be highlighting all EIGHTEEN wonderful new inductees!

Haley Embry

Hayley Embry is an intervention specialist working at the Milton Union Middle School through the Miami County ESC. Hayley was nominated because her classroom is full of evidence-based practices! On top of that, she is the queen of data collection and does such a great job of progress monitoring! What we admire most is Hayley’s ability to collaborate with her staff and the families you serve. She is always actively problem-solving and open to trying new ideas. Hayley clearly takes pride in supporting students in an individualized way, ensuring that their needs are being met. This is especially true with transition supports. Hayley does a great job of providing information and exploration of community-based supports for students and their families. Your leadership style and approach to teaching should be celebrated and deserves to be recognized!

Erin Lukas

Erin Lukas is the intervention specialist in a resource room at Smith Intermediate School in Vandalia. We were impressed with Erin’s ability to recognize the needs of some of her more challenging students and her flexibility in changing how she structured her classroom. She is implementing evidence-based strategies to support her students and has been a model for other teams we are coaching.

Callie George

Callie George is the Speech Pathologist at East Elementary in Eaton. Over the years, we have been impressed with Callie’s ability to collaborate with teachers to support student needs in the classroom. This year, she amazed us with her development of communication lessons that focused on teaching core words in fun and engaging activities. We invited Callie to present with us at the national OCALICON conference in November alongside her teammate and fellow A-LISTer Deanna Hicks.

Rachael Anderson

Rachael Anderson is an outstanding paraprofessional in fellow A-LISTer Taylor Ruef’s classroom at Stevenson Elementary in Mad River. During our numerous A-LIST visits to their classroom, we have been so impressed with how Rachael demonstrates exceptional initiative, consistently stays ahead of student needs, and steps in wherever help is needed to ensure everything runs smoothly. She is an excellent model to others who have visited their classroom, and one of the most frequent and enthusiastic pieces of feedback we receive from visiting teams is about her remarkable ability to support both the students and the classroom environment so seamlessly.

Heather Venters & Linda Daniels

Heather Venters is an Occupational Therapist and Linda Daniels is an Physical Therapist from Montgomery County ESC serving students at Trotwood-Madison Early Learning Center. They are true team players who collaborate seamlessly with every team they are a part of. Heather’s use of structured work during treatment sessions is thoughtful and intentional, and it clearly supports student success. Linda’s treatment sessions are not only functional but also highly motivating for her students. She works closely with classroom staff to ensure that the skills and positioning strategies carry over into the classroom, creating consistency and maximizing student success. Heather and Linda have both been outstanding partners to our team—consistently communicating openly, attending meetings, delivering personalized tools, and modeling the implementation of the strategies and supports we’ve recommended.

Karen Lash

Karen Lash is a paraprofessional at Driscoll Elementary School in the Centerville City School District. Karen demonstrates an intuition with her students that is hard to "teach" because she just "knows" how to respond and meet their needs. Karen is a good "co-regulator" for the students she supports. She has a calm presence and always does a great job of interacting with the students she is working with in a supportive, nurturing way. She also knows when to provide boundaries and limits when those are needed as well. Karen is a team player and always willing to provide feedback or ask questions in team meetings. She also does a great job of managing *all* of the supports needed in the classrooms you have supported through the years. Karen is truly an invaluable member of the Driscoll MD team!

Morgan Brown, Joy Chenault, & Brianna Foster

Morgan Brown is a preschool teacher at Trotwood Early Learning Center and works beside paraprofessionals Joy Chenault and Brianna Foster. They work together seamlessly, truly exemplifying what it means to be a cohesive and effective team. They have created a truly positive and inclusive environment where all students can thrive. The structure and routine they’ve built has clearly boosted student engagement. The team is always fully engaged—modeling expectations, asking thoughtful questions during small groups, offering meaningful praise, and providing students with the individualized support they need to thrive. They are also wonderful co-regulators—no matter what is happening, they remain calm and centered, providing the steady support students need to de-escalate and re-engage.

Mindy Shelton

Mindy Shelton is an intervention specialist at Medlar View Elementary in Miamisburg. We have been impressed with Mindy’s ability to implement evidence-based strategies to meet the needs of students with significant behavioral challenges. She has remained professional and positive through some very difficult times and demonstrated the use of data collection and clear communication with her staff to support the problem-solving process.

Jessica Sanders

Jessica Sanders is an intervention specialist from Driscoll Elementary School in the Centerville City School District. We love going to Jessica’s self-contained classroom because we know we will see so many evidence-based practices in place! Jessica is always interested in coaching and willing to have support for her classroom. That's always the sign of a great teacher...one who is still willing to learn, collaborate, and try new things! What we admire most is her desire to help the "whole" child and also support their families. She is always actively problem-solving and she strives to meet her students' needs outside of the classroom, too. We love how Jessica provides community-based support and suggestions to her students' families as well. Her leadership style and approach to teaching should be celebrated and deserves to be recognized!

Celeste Ritzert

Mary “Celeste” Ritzert was nominated because she demonstrates an intuition with her students that is hard to "teach" because she just "knows". Celeste is a good "co-regulator" because of her calm presence and supportive, nurturing approach with her students. Celeste does an excellent job of providing wait time and ensuring that her students are regulated before having any other expectations for them. She also does a great job of making sure all students have access to communication and are able to express themselves. Celeste does a great job of managing *all* of the supports needed to help the students she is working with be successful. Celeste is truly an invaluable member of the MCESC Learning Center West team!

Kasey Hancock

Kasey Hancock is the intervention specialist at Harry Russell Elementary in West Carrollton. Over the years, we have been impressed with Kasey’s passion to create a classroom environment that meets the diverse needs of her students. She is organized and creative in the implementation of visual strategies and structured work systems. Kasey communicates well with others to promote effective teamwork. We are happy to have her as part of our A-LIST!

Shelly Cummins

Shelly Cummins is an intervention specialist at Camden Elementary School in the Preble Shawnee Local School District. Shelly was nominated because we love coming to her classroom and seeing so many evidence-based practices in place! She is always actively problem-solving and open to trying new ideas. We have also been impressed with her initiative to support students in an individualized way, ensuring that their needs are being met. Shelly is an excellent model for others, and she’s a good "co-regulator" for the students she supports. She has a calm presence and always does a great job of interacting with her students in a supportive, nurturing way. Shelly does a great job of setting goals for her students and wants to push them to make as much progress as possible. Her approach to teaching should be celebrated and deserves to be recognized!

Rachel Lech

Rachel Lech is a kindergarten teacher at Kleptz Early Learning Center in Northmont Schools. One of the keys to her success has been creating a positive, welcoming environment where ALL students feel valued and supported. Her collaboration with the large team of adults supporting her classroom is truly commendable. She consistently primes students with expectations and materials before each activity, and has engaging, attention-grabbing phrases that are both effective and fun. She provides individualized supports—flexible seating, fidgets, sensory tools, visual aids, and reinforcement—ensuring that every child has what they need to thrive. The structured and supportive environment she’s built is clearly contributing to her students’ success.

Aubrey Diane Ludlow

Aubrey Diane Ludlow is the intervention specialist in the Clark Co. ESC self-contained classroom serving students with significant behavior challenges. We were impressed with Aubrey’s insight into the why behind the behaviors and her flexibility in meeting biological and emotional needs to help students be more available for learning. She has created an engaging and warm environment for staff and students. We have already sent a teacher to her classroom to see effective strategies in action.

Jack Stephens

Jack Stephens is the Special Education Supervisor in Mad River Local Schools whose dedication to supporting teachers, advocating for best practices for students, and collaborating with our team is exceptional. Jack does well with guiding his staff toward the very tools and strategies we often recommend which creates a strong foundation of support across his district. Additionally, he has been proactive in his approach to meeting the unique needs of the growing number of students with autism and low-incidence disabilities within the district.

Congratulations to all of our new 2025 A-LIST Inductees! We are excited to have you as an extension of our team!

A-LIST Spotlight: Intervention Specialist Katie Wood at Primary Village South in Centerville

It has been such a pleasure to work with Intervention Specialist Katie Wood at Primary Village South in Centerville. She jumped right into the coaching process and took our ideas in stride, even the ones that seemed a bit out there at first! She is reflective, open-minded, and collaborative when it comes to problem-solving. These are all excellent strengths for an intervention specialist and definitely make the coaching process rewarding for all involved! In addition to her ability to implement our interventions with fidelity, we were impressed with Katie's calm classroom environment, facilitation of AAC, and use of technology. She was also an excellent team leader for her fellow low-incidence teachers and for her paraprofessionals. We are so excited to showcase some of the supports Katie shared with us for today's A-LIST Spotlight!

Structured Work

• 3 Tier Work System: I use structured work systems throughout the school day with my students. I often use structured work systems to promote independence and instill a sense of accomplishment. The structured work systems also allow students to see an “end goal” during work and track what tasks they’ve completed, as well as what they still need to do. I use the structured work systems as an “independent work” center, as well as an IEP Goal center.

Reinforcement Supports:

• Work Contracts: I pair work contracts with almost every single task my students complete in my classroom. I’ve found that pairing an incentive with tasks helps motivate my students and increases engagement and attention. Students know that once they earn all 3 tokens for task completion, they receive the incentive chosen on their work contract. This has been an extremely helpful tool this school year. Work contracts can be personalized for each student based on their motivations and interests.

• Token Boards: Token boards provide a visual and tangible way for students to track their positive behaviors and earn rewards. Students can earn tokens for demonstrating desired behaviors, such as following directions and task completion. Once a student collects a certain number of tokens, they can exchange them for a predetermined incentive. This encourages motivation and reinforces positive behavior.

• Visual Countdowns: I use visual countdowns in my classroom and across the school day with my students. Visual countdowns can be helpful prior to transitions inside and outside of the classroom, especially for students who struggle with transitioning from preferred to non-preferred activities. I occasionally pair the countdown with a timer once the countdown is complete. I also use the small visual countdown as an individual student tool in moments where students may be expected to wait or complete a task. This tool helps students with predictability and expectation.

Choice Boards:

• Self-Regulation Choice Board: I created this choice board for students to use in moments of frustration and dysregulation. It can be difficult for students to communicate their thoughts and emotions when they become dysregulated, so this tool works well, helps students communicate how they are feeling, and promotes independence and self-regulation skills.

• Unstructured Play Choice Board: I created this choice board for some students who were struggling to make appropriate choices during unstructured play (free play, recess, etc.). Students are expected to make a choice on their board and know that when they are finished with a choice, the visual needs to be moved and replaced before they can move on to their next activity choice.

• Problem-Solving Choice Board: My student teacher created this choice board for students who struggle to problem-solve conflicts with peers (yelling at, crying, etc.). Students are encouraged to choose a replacement behavior in order to problem-solve conflicts that may arise.

Visual Schedules:

• Individual Traveling Schedules: Because my students spend parts of their day transitioning between various classrooms, I utilize traveling schedules with some of my students. Traveling schedules allow students to access their daily schedule from anywhere in the building.

• Visual Task Schedule: This schedule helps students visualize the steps needed to complete a task. I use this visual task schedule for fine motor activities or other activities that have multi-step directions. At this point in the year, most of my students are able to sit down at a table and follow these visual directions independently.

• Location-Based Schedules: I use location-based schedules during center rotations in my classroom. Each student has their own schedule, and each center is color-coded for students to easily transition from one activity to the next.

Transition Supports:

• Classroom Doorbell: We use our classroom doorbell during transitions within the classroom. Students know that when they hear the doorbell sound, it is time to finish up what they are doing and transition to their next center or activity. I often pair a verbal or visual countdown with the doorbell chime for students who need extra reminders.

• Transition Choice Board: I created this choice board for students who struggle with transitions outside of the classroom. Students are encouraged to choose and focus on 1-3 positive behaviors to demonstrate during transitions outside of the classroom. Pre-correcting transition behaviors has helped a lot of my students demonstrate successful transitions throughout the school day.

A special thank you to Katie for sharing all of the fabulous supports she uses for her students for today's A-LIST Spotlight! Your students are lucky to have you and we feel so fortunate to have you as an A-LISTer!

A-LIST Induction 2024

We are so excited to end this school year by introducing our newest members of our Autism & Low-Incidence Coaching Team’s “A-LIST”. Our A-LIST stands for Autism-Low Incidence Support Team and is comprised of a regional network of select professionals who exhibit “best practices” in serving the needs of students who have autism or other complex, low-incidence disabilities.Our A-LIST began in 2012 in an effort to recognize outstanding individuals who had exceeded the high expectations of our coaching process, and who represented the best that our region had to offer to students with disabilities. Only a fraction of the educators we coach each year are nominated. The A-LIST truly represents the BEST professionals in our region.

The goal of the MCESC Autism & Low-Incidence Coaching Team is to build the capacity of our region’s administrators, teachers, intervention specialists, related service providers, and paraprofessionals to serve children with autism and other complex disabilities. The A-LIST serves a critical role in that mission by maintaining a multi-disciplinary network of outstanding practitioners across all 6 counties we serve. We often refer our coaching teams to our A-LIST members for practical, “in the trenches” perspectives, advice, and occasional modeling of best practices.




Mackenzie Harris

 

Mackenzie Harris is an intervention specialist at Primary Village South in Centerville City Schools . We love Mackenzie's use of structured work systems, reinforcement, and many visual supports. When addressing behavioral challenges, Mackenzie is a co-regulation queen and always has a binder of data ready to be analyzed. Mackenzie has embraced the coaching process and has done a great job collaborating with the ACT team and her school-based team. Mackenzie's students are lucky to have her and we are lucky to have her as one of the newest members of our A-LIST team!

Nick DeGrazia

Nick DeGrazia is a student services supervisor and school psychologist for Northmont Schools. This year he took on the additional role of student services supervisor and has embraced it.  We have worked with Nick over the years and appreciate his active involvement with referral classes and students. Nick is invested in getting to know his staff and students. Nick is also a great support to our team by asking insightful questions and offering support in helping the classroom teams implement ACT team recommendations.  The students and staff in Northmont are lucky to have Nick as a leader! 

America Swartzel

America Swartzel is the speech pathologist at Dixie Elementary and Middle School in New Lebanon. She is always so positive and knows how to engage with her students. We have seen America connect with some of the most challenging students and facilitate meaningful use of AAC, encouraging implementation across settings. We also love that she educates herself on the perspectives of neurodiverse individuals to make sure her goals and strategies are respectful of their unique differences and abilities.  America is a great team player and demonstrates the ability to collaborate with others to support shared goals. We are excited to have America on our A-LIST!

Katie Wood

When coaching in intervention specialist Katie Wood's classroom at Primary Village South in Centerville, we have loved her calming environment, use of the structured work system, how her classroom team facilitates the use of AAC, their use of visual supports such as student schedules and the reinforcement system, use of technology to engage students, and her ability to manage and delegate to your paraprofessionals. Katie has truly embraced the coaching process and shows strengths with mindful reflection, remaining open-minded, collaborative problem-solving, and has done a nice job of implementing strategies with fidelity. We know Katie will be a valued member of our A-LIST and have actually already been visiting her classroom with other teachers since we know there are some great examples for them to see!

Todd French

It has been a pleasure for our team to work with school psychologist Todd French at Northmont City Schools over the past couple of years! Todd does such an excellent job of advocating for his teachers and his students. Additionally, it is refreshing to see a school psychologist who is so involved and truly knows and supports his students on a day-to-day basis. Todd is a wonderful partner to our team and the coaching that we do. We appreciate his involvement in our meetings and your partnership. Northmont is certainly lucky to have Todd!

Heidi Horner

Miami County ESC Intervention Specialist Heidi Horner at Nevin Coppock Elementary in Tipp City has been nominated to our A-LIST because when you visit her classroom you immediately see so many evidence-based practices in place!  Throughout her coaching experience with the ACT Team, Heidi has always been willing to listen to constructive feedback and take new ideas and make them her own. On top of all of that, what we admire most about Heidi is her positive attitude and ability to collaborate with her classroom staff and the families she serves.  She always has her students at heart and will not stop until she meets their needs.  Heidi is always actively problem-solving and we have also been impressed with her initiative to support students in an individualized way, ensuring that she and her staff are meeting their needs. Heidi's leadership style and approach to teaching should be celebrated and deserves to be recognized!  Congratulations, Heidi!

A-LIST Spotlight: Intervention Specialist Maggie Brackman at Northwood Elementary

When you step into Intervention Specialist Maggie Brackman’s classroom at Northwood Elementary in Northmont, you immediately feel at ease. The lights are dimmed, there are different types of seating, and there are lots of visual aids to help students learn. While we were working with Maggie, she showed us how experienced she is by quickly implementing our suggestions and truly making them the perfect fit for her students and classroom! Any team would be lucky to have Maggie, and we're so glad she's now part of our A-LIST team and that we have the opportunity today to feature her as our A-LIST Spotlight!

Student Regulation

One strength Maggie has is the ability to set up a calming classroom environment so students can focus and regulate. Maggie's resource room has dimmed lighting and flexible seating. 

When needed, she also allows students to take a break to help them regulate because Maggie knows you have to "regulate before you educate!" Students can take a walk or take a break in her calming corner. 

Environmental Predictability

Another way that Maggie supports her learners is through providing environmental predictability through visual schedules and consistent reinforcement systems. 

We love how Maggie collaborated with her student to personalize this visual schedule to get buy-in!

Engaging Instructional Activities

Maggie also knows how important it is to actively engage students in their learning through using activities that are not only accessible but also fun! She collaborates well with her paraprofessionals and general education teachers to modify work. 

A very special thank you to Maggie for welcoming us into her classroom and being such a wonderful partner to the ACT team. We are excited to share these ideas with additional educators!