Born
on a mountain top in Tennessee… (Well,
almost.) Raised on Signal Mountain, Janis still
considers herself a “Mountain Girl” and
heads for the hills for most major holidays
to visit family and friends.Her career began
as a Speech Pathologist at the Chattanooga/Hamilton
County Speech & Hearing Center in Chattanooga,
Tennessee. Three years later she married and
moved to Virginia where she was hired as a
speech/language clinician for FCPS in 1972.
She
has always been interested in the unique communication
needs of the non-verbal population and it was
her good fortune to be working with this population
when augmentative communication technology
was in its infancy. You can’t beat on-the-job
training which helped her to eventually become
recognized as an AAC authority in FCPS. Consequently,
in 1983, she was selected to coordinate a State
Grant which would explore the use of a variety
of augmentative communication devices and strategies
with the MOD/SD population within the school
system. The grant was completed in 1987 at
which time another door opened to Janis within
FCPS.
She
crossed over the threshold into the newly created
Integrated Technology Services (ITS) section
of the Department of Student Services and Special
Education (DSSSE). Since then she has been
a guest speaker at Gallaudet University, George
Washington University, and George Mason University.
She has been an Adjunct Professor at George
Mason University and taught numerous Professional
Development Courses in Assistive Technology
for FCPS. She has served 2 years on the Speech/Language
Advisory Committee for VA Dept. of Education
and was elected as the State Representative
for United States Augmentative Communication
Society (USAAC) for 2 years.
Currently,
Janis has numerous responsibilities as a member
of the Leadership Team at ITS. She reviews
all incoming ITS referrals and assigns them
to the appropriate ITS Case Manager. She coordinates
and tracks software and equipment received
as well as a “wish list” of items
requested by ITS staff members throughout each
year. Janis also oversees all AAC equipment
at ITS, maintaining wait lists for the high-end
devices and contacting manufactures and engineers
to troubleshoot and arrange repairs. In addition
to these duties, she also acts as an ITS Case
Manager for approximately 80 students with
moderate to severe communication disorders.
Although she wears many hats at ITS, she especially
enjoys using technology to create ideas and
activities, from high tech to no tech, that
can be used to break the communication barriers
of the special needs population.
One
of her favorite quotes, attributed to Rosemary
Crossley, an internationally recognized AAC
authority, is “Not being able to talk
does not mean you have nothing to say” although
her curmudgeonly colleague, Jim Phifer, says, “Being
able to talk does not mean you have anything
to say.” Janis agrees.
Favorite
leisure activities include computer graphics,
reading, traveling, going to the movies, and
listening to classical piano.
Janis
has a daughter, Ashley, who is currently a
sophomore at the University of Tennessee in
Knoxville. GO VOLS!!!!
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