The Special Education Team We are Rebecca McClure, Mary Denholm, Kathy Rollheiser, Sarah Rosellini, and Kathleen Forsythe. If you choose to enroll your child with special needs in the SelfDesign DEL program, we will work with your family as your Special Education Team.
Coordinator of Special Education Rebecca has been teaching and counselling children in educational and therapeutic settings since 1987. Through her work in a variety of school learning environments and residential treatment programs, she has extensive experience supporting children with emotional, behavioural, and learning differences. She holds a MEd in Counselling Psychology, as well as a BEd and a BA (Psychology). Rebecca coordinates and supports the smooth running of the Special Education program. She contacts and orients new families who indicate they have a child with special needs, reviews and summarizes assessment documentation for each learner, coordinates the application submission process, coordinates the Individual Education Plan (IEP), liaisons with the Ministry and the SelfDesign Executive Team, creates and oversees the budgets, and handles invoices, support services providers contracts and other required documentation, such as Criminal Record Checks, proof of professional registration, and resumes from support services providers and community-based professionals. Special Education Consultants Mary's formal education includes a BA(Hon) in Psychology, a BEd and a Specialist Certificate in Special Education (Ontario Ministry of Education). Before her children were born, she worked for 13 years as a special needs teacher, in a wide variety of settings. For the past 15 years, her work has involved being a Learning Consultant for SelfDesign, tutoring, leading preschool and parent-and-tot classes, providing licensed child care and running a horse-and-carriage business. In 1981, Kathy received her degree in Education from the Institute of Child Development, an innovative Special Education facility, at the University of Saskatchewan. She received a diploma in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages from Vancouver Community College in 2002, and her Master’s in Education from the University of Victoria in 2004. The focus of her Master’s degree was in diagnostic and prescriptive teaching for children with learning disabilities. Kathy was a special education teacher for 15 years before leaving to work as a private educational consultant in
1999. Sarah studied English Literature at UBC for three years before moving over to the Faculty of Education. She has a BEd with a focus on Primary and Special Education and has recently completed a diploma from UBC in Counselling and Guidance Studies. Sarah has worked in a public Montessori school and has also worked as a resource teacher in the public system, primarily teaching ESL and working with children with special needs, both academic and behavioural. A passionate educator, Kathleen has worked with learners of all ages. For the past couple of years, Kathleen has been supporting children with autism and has recently begun a program in Vancouver, with Singing English founder, Dr. Fleurette Sweeney. She has recently begun to train in Dr. Stanley Greenspan's Floortime DIR technique for children with autism. The Special Education Consultant (SpEC) is your family's primary contact, support, and resource person in SelfDesign once the application process is complete. She is your learner's SelfDesign Learning Consultant; in addition, she collaborates with your family to write, review, and update your child's Individual Education Plan (IEP) at regular intervals throughout the year. The SpEC also provides ongoing support to both you and the support services providers involved with your child's Special Education program. Her role includes consulting with the community professionals who are working with your child, reading reports from support services providers, and helping parents find suitable support services providers according to the IEP. Special Education Administrative Support Gillian has a BSc from Queen's University in Math/Stats and an MSc from UVic in Physical Geography/Geomorphology. She has taught at both UVic and Malaspina College, and has worked for the BC Ministry of Labour. Since becoming a mother, she has volunteered extensively as a La Leche League Leader, for the Metchosin Community Association, for the Victoria Home Learning Network, and for both the Live and Learn and the LIFE is Good Unschooling Conferences. As our Special Education Administrative Support, Gillian helps to track budget changes and monthly invoices. Each month, she prepares budget statements to send to families so that families have a clear picture of how the funds are being spent in their child's Special Education budget. She also prepares and sends out contracts to support services providers and ensures that providers have sent all required documentation. Please read the information in our FAQ. If you have further questions about the program or you plan to enroll your child in SelfDesign and you feel your child's needs meet the funding criteria, please email our Coordinator of Special Education, at specialed@selfdesign.org. |
