Natalie Liggetts Statement to WESD Board

April 2, 2013

I have dedicated my life to serving young children and have been serving in the capacity of an Early Intervention/Early Childhood Special Education (EI/ECSE) Specialist for eight years. I have served hundreds of children and their families over the years. I have spent countless hours creating and implementing supports for the children in my classroom to facilitate their developmental and educational goals. I have done so outside of the regular work day. Unfortunately, the children have been provided very few crucial resources by the program, even though I repeatedly advocated for them. Despite the austere conditions that the program offered the children and my advocacy for resources, materials and supplies, I ensured that the children would not suffer from the programs inability to meet the childrens essential educational needs. To address the childrens individual needs and to provide the appropriate specially designed instruction necessary for developmental progress, I supplied nearly every toy, book, game, file-folder task, work activity, and visual support used in the classroom. The majority of the children I served came from Spanish-speaking families. I developed, created, provided and implemented all curricula and visual supports without the support of a bilingual Spanish-speaking assistant afforded to every other classroom. I was told by a supervisor that Spanish-speaking children were specifically placed in my classroom due to the level of support I implemented in their native language. I have seen much growth and improvement in the children attending my classroom over a short period of time. Children that had been unsuccessful in previous settings flourished in the environment I created to foster and maximize educational opportunities. I look forward to continuing to lend myself to an educational program that will value and respect the unique experience and skill set I have to offer a collaborative team. He dedicado mi vida al servicio a los nios pequeos y he servido en la capacidad de Especialista de Intervencin Temprana y Educacin Especial en la Primera Infancia desde los ltimos ocho aos. He servido a cientos de nios y sus familias durante estos aos. He pasado horas innumerables al hacer e implementar ayudas para los nios de me clase para facilitar el desarrollo de stos nios y ayudarles a lograr sus metas educacionales. Esto he hecho fuera de las horas normales del trabajo. Desafortunadamente, el programa ha provedo pocos recursos cruciales a los nios pese a mis splicas reiteradas. A pesar de las condiciones austeras que el programa ha proporcionado a los nios, me aseguraba de que los nios no sufran a causa de la inhabilidad del programa de satisfacer las necesidades educativas de los nios. Para abordar las necesidades individuales de los nios y proveer las instrucciones especializadas apropiadas y necesarias para el progreso del desarrollo, yo provea casi cada juguete, libro, juego, actividad de carpeta, actividad del trabajo, y apoyo visual que los nios usaban en la sala de clase. La mayora de los nios que serv eran de familias hispanohablantes. Desarroll, cre, prove, e implement todo el currculo y apoyos visuales sin el apoyo de un asistente hispanohablante que se le permitieron a las otras clases. Una supervisora me inform que se asignaron los nios hispanohablantes a mi clase especficamente a causa de los apoyos que implementaba para los nios en su propio idioma. He observado que los nios asistiendo a mi clase han progresado y aprendido mucho durante corto tiempo. Algunos nios, los quienes no han tenido xito en sus colocaciones anteriores, han florecidos en el ambiente que he creado para alentar y maximizar las oportunidades educacionales. Espero mucho poder seguir brindando mis servicios a un programa educativo lo cual que va a valuar y respectar mi experiencia nica y las habilidades que tengo para ofrecer un equipo colaborativo.