The Student Who Shaped My Leadership
One of the most meaningful and professionally defining experiences of my career involved a three year old student, Nicole, who entered my Integrated Preschool classroom with eligibility for special education services based upon expressive speech and language delays and deficits in adaptive and functional skills. While those identified needs certainly existed, it quickly became apparent to me through daily observation, instructional interactions, authentic play, language development, and ongoing progress monitoring that Nicole's needs extended well beyond expressive language and adaptive functioning. I observed a pattern of global developmental delays affecting multiple developmental domains, accompanied by characteristics that suggested she may also fall within the Autism Spectrum Disorder profile.
As educators, we are neither diagnosticians nor physicians, and I understood the importance of remaining within my professional role. At that time, our Child Study Team believed Nicole was still very young and felt it was premature to recommend additional medical evaluations. However, I also understood that time is one of the most valuable variables in early childhood intervention. The research is unequivocal. Early identification, early intervention, and precise, individualized programming dramatically improve developmental trajectories and long term outcomes for young children.
With great care, professionalism, and sensitivity, I began coaching Nicole's parents through ongoing conversations centered around their daughter's development. Rather than telling them what I believed, I asked thoughtful questions, shared objective classroom observations, documented developmental patterns, and gently encouraged them to continue seeking additional medical information from developmental specialists. My goal was never to diagnose. My responsibility was to advocate for obtaining the most comprehensive information possible so that Nicole could receive the services she truly needed.
Following a series of developmental evaluations, medical appointments, and comprehensive assessments, Nicole was ultimately diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder. While this was understandably overwhelming for her family, it also provided clarity and opened the door to significantly more specialized intervention. After careful collaboration among Nicole's parents, the Child Study Team, and outside professionals, the team concluded that Nicole required a more specialized educational placement designed specifically to meet the unique learning needs of students with Autism Spectrum Disorder.
Nicole transitioned into the Hills School program where she began receiving intensive, individualized services. Unfortunately, only a few months later, the world changed dramatically as the COVID 19 pandemic forced schools across the country into remote instruction. Like every other educational program, Nicole's specialized autism program transitioned to remote learning. However, unlike many general education students, Nicole required intensive face-to-face instruction, discrete trial teaching, Applied Behavior Analysis, highly structured routines, immediate reinforcement, and continuous adult interaction. Remote instruction simply could not replicate those critical components of her educational program.
Within a relatively short period of time, Nicole's parents began witnessing significant developmental regression. Skills she had previously acquired began disappearing. Nicole’s communication declined, her adaptive functioning regressed, emotional dysregulation increased substantially, and increasingly challenging behaviors, including physical aggression, became more frequent. Everyone involved was deeply concerned that the progress Nicole had worked so hard to achieve was rapidly slipping away.
During this extraordinarily difficult period, Nicole's family reached out to me for guidance. As we collaboratively explored possible solutions, I proposed what I believed could become an innovative and individualized approach. I suggested pursuing intensive home based Applied Behavior Analysis services through Student Focused ABA Therapy Services. It was certainly not a decision without risk. COVID 19 remained highly unpredictable, uncertainty surrounded every aspect of daily life, and families across the country were making extraordinarily difficult decisions while facing significant health concerns.
Fortunately, Nicole's family partnered with Student Focused, whose exceptional team assigned two ABA Behavior Technicians to work with Nicole in her home Monday through Friday for approximately six hours each day. The results were nothing short of remarkable. Nicole's progress accelerated dramatically. Her communication improved, challenging behaviors decreased, emotional regulation strengthened, adaptive functioning expanded, and she began rebuilding foundational developmental skills that had been lost during remote instruction.
When schools reopened under hybrid learning, Nicole's family expressed a strong desire for her to return to in-person instruction. However, they also recognized the extraordinary progress she had made through intensive ABA intervention and wanted continuity between home and school. Together, Nicole's parents, the Child Study Team, district administration, Student Focused, and I developed an innovative collaborative service model that, to our knowledge, had never before been implemented within our district.
Nicole's parents requested that her ABA therapists accompany her during the in-person portion of her instructional day and that this collaborative instructional model occur specifically within my classroom. Although a teacher's name cannot legally be written into an Individualized Education Program, the family strongly advocated for maintaining this unique educational partnership because they had witnessed Nicole's remarkable growth within our classroom environment.
Initially, there were understandable concerns from district leadership and members of the Child Study Team. Having outside agency personnel working alongside the classroom teacher throughout the instructional day represented unfamiliar territory. Questions arose regarding confidentiality, professional boundaries, and the logistics of implementing such a model. Some even cautioned that inviting outside professionals into the classroom might create challenges or place classroom instruction under unnecessary scrutiny.
I viewed the situation differently.
I had complete confidence in my instructional practice, welcomed collaborative partnerships, and believed this represented an extraordinary opportunity to design an educational program centered entirely around one child's unique needs. Rather than perceiving outside professionals as observers, I viewed them as collaborative partners. We shared data continuously, analyzed behavior patterns, aligned intervention strategies, differentiated instruction, scaffolded learning experiences, reinforced communication systems, and ensured that every instructional interaction remained consistent across home, therapy, and school environments.
The collaboration became an extraordinary success. The integration of school based instruction with Applied Behavior Analysis created continuity that accelerated Nicole's growth academically, behaviorally, socially, emotionally, and functionally. As Nicole mastered new skills, her goals and objectives evolved to reflect increasing independence, higher expectations, and expanding competence. Year after year, Nicole continued making remarkable progress.
Today, Nicole is a thriving fourth grade student. She has grown academically, physically, socially, emotionally, and behaviorally in ways that once seemed difficult to imagine. Watching her transformation has been one of the greatest privileges of my professional career.
This experience fundamentally shaped my philosophy as an educational leader. It reinforced my belief that exceptional student outcomes are achieved when educators refuse to be constrained by traditional systems and instead build collaborative partnerships grounded in trust, innovation, evidence based practice, and an unwavering commitment to doing what is in the best interest of children. Effective student services leadership requires the courage to advocate when concerns first emerge, the humility to collaborate across disciplines, the vision to create innovative solutions, and the persistence to ensure that every child receives precisely the supports necessary to reach his or her fullest potential.
Nicole's journey remains one of the most powerful reminders that when educators, families, administrators, and outside agencies work together with a shared vision, extraordinary outcomes become possible.
