# data[].attributes.body
Hello everybody! I come from Vietnam where Special Education is in its embryo; we have tried to help kids with special needs but have not had much research into assessment, strategies or supporting tools. I learned about the Early Intervention Program of the UO when ASQ was introduced in my country, and Department of Special Education at my university. In 2013 I came here for the Master’s program. After graduation, I worked at Head Start to experience how kids at risk could get identified and supported. In 2016 I started the doctoral program, Department of Special Education, UO. However, my studies was postponed for two years due to personal reasons. This year I am coming back to continue the program. My professional interests include working with kids from bilingual backgrounds, especially Vietnamese American. I would also like to investigate the validity and join in the Vietnamese adaptation of screening tools and curricula for use in the Vietnamese communities. While in Vietnam, I worked for Brookes to translate and adapt the Vietnamese ASQ—VASQ. Hopefully I will soon be able to work on the VASQSE and Vietnamese AEPS...

Yay, I am excited to meet you all tomorrow!!

# data[].attributes.body
Hi Everyone!
I am originally from Tacoma, WA, but have lived in North Carolina for the past 3 years. I spent the majority of my career as a special education teacher in an elementary self-contained behavior program, and I loved every minute of it. I've also been an elementary resource room teacher, middle school resource room teacher, and administrator at the building and district levels. When I was about 12 years old, my parents became foster parents and our home eventually became a therapeutic placement, which is what really started my love for working with students with behavioral disorders. In North Carolina, I worked as a MTSS coach supporting high schools. During that time, I was able to collaborate with Rhonda Nese to bring her Instructional Suspension Learning Alternative framework to some of the schools with which I worked, and it was through that work that I decided to come to UO. My areas of interest include secondary PBIS implementation, sustainability of tier 2/tier 3 interventions, and coaching systems to support MTSS implementation. Outside of school, I enjoy spending time in the wilderness, photography, live music, traveling, being the world's best auntie to the world's seven best nieces (all under the age of 11!) and petting any animals that I can get my hands on.

# data[].attributes.headline
Hi! My name is Lemya Alhmoudi. I am from United Arab Emirates. I did my bachelor’s degree in Deaf and Hard of Hearing from Bowling Green State University in Ohio. Then I decided to do my mater’s in early childhood special education which I completed at the University of Kansas. I taught back home children with autism. It was a great experience that helped me understand more the special education system in the UAE and how can we improve it. I am interested in home visiting settings because it is new idea to many of the families of special needs in the UAE and I want them to benefit the most from it. By coming to the University of Oregon, I am hoping to acquire the knowledge that will help me support families and their children with special needs in the UAE. In my free time, I like to bake cakes, watching shows, shopping online. Also, I love traveling and exploring new countries. 

# data[].attributes.subject
Hi! My name is Lemya Alhmoudi. I am from United Arab Emirates. I did my bachelor’s degree in Deaf and Hard of Hearing from Bowling Green State University in Ohio. Then I decided to do my mater’s in early childhood special education which I completed at the University of Kansas. I taught back home children with autism. It was a great experience that helped me understand more the special education system in the UAE and how can we improve it. I am interested in home visiting settings because it is new idea to many of the families of special needs in the UAE and I want them to benefit the most from it. By coming to the University of Oregon, I am hoping to acquire the knowledge that will help me support families and their children with special needs in the UAE. In my free time, I like to bake cakes, watching shows, shopping online. Also, I love traveling and exploring new countries. 

# data[].attributes.body
laxayam, I am Kevin from Grand Ronde, Oregon. I am returning to UO after a few years in SPED working for the federal government at a boarding school for Native American high school students from across the country. I am excited and humbled by this opportunity to continue my education as well as learn from the wonderful people at UO!

I am interested in inclusive and culturally applicable  instructional practices and interventions for under-served populations (primarily Native American students). I have also worked in legislation, tribal government, and child welfare in addition to special education. I am interested in the intersections of special education services and youth in the foster care system. My professional passion has been exploring ways to make the IEP great again :)

Outside of my professional life I am a father to 5 beautiful children. I enjoy any and all stories highlighting people's aspirations to reach their greatest potential: sports, arts, professional, family, any all triumphs.

# data[].attributes.body
Some formative experiences that led me to the UO include attending track camp here when I was ten years old (I absolutely loved the campus and experience), and the time that I spent in middle school  supporting my peers with disabilities who were, sadly, academically and socially segregated within a self-contained classroom. I am from Portland, Oregon and earned my bachelor's degree (double major in humanities and history, and double minor in special education and philosophy) and master's degree (in special education) from the UO. My areas of interest include inclusive education, PBIS, and disability studies in education. I am also interested in teacher preparation and poverty in the contexts of families and education. I taught in an elementary self-contained classroom for students with moderate to severe and multiple disabilities, during the last several years, which was a wonderful and invaluable experience. If I had continued teaching, I would have liked to teach in a transition program for students with developmental and cognitive disabilities---perhaps another research interest area. I love to cook, listen to and play music, and spend time with my dog----I adopted him when he was 8 weeks old and he is now almost 8 years old.

# data[].attributes.body
Hello, my name is Wenjing. Nice to "meet" you all :)
I am an international student. I got my bachelor’s degree in Preschool Education in China, and I came to the United States three years ago with great curiosity in American early childhood education in both school and home settings. For the first year in the U.S., I was an Au Pair for an American host family, taking care of their toddler and infant. After the one-year Au Pair program, I started the Early Intervention Master’s program at the University of Oregon in order to be more competent to optimize all children’s learning despite their developmental level in inclusive classrooms. I learned wonderful evidence-based practices that I could apply when working for the Early Education Program (a special education preschool program serving young children with special needs) in Eugene after I graduated last August. With my work and educational experience in early childhood education and early childhood special education, I  see myself passionate in inclusion, bilingual and autism studies. That is why I decided to come back school for further study. I like outdoor activities, yummy foods, and novel information outside of school.

# data[].attributes.body
Hello!  My name is Katie Alvarez.  I recently moved from Iowa to start my journey to getting a PhD.  I acquired my Bachelors degree  in behavioral neuroscience from Cornell College and do not yet have a Masters, as the department accepted me as sort of a dual-program student.  I have done research about different aspects of services for autistic children (most recently completed at Michigan State) and have spent the majority of this year working as a behavior technician and a social skills teacher for autistic kiddos.
My interests outside of school include listening to music, watching different shows on streaming sites, and shopping/people watching.

# data[].attributes.body
This is my thirteenth year teaching this course and I have enjoyed revising and enhancing it to meet incoming doctoral students needs and interests. My field-based experiences prior to getting my PhD was as a school psychologist in CA. Since receiving my PhD, I have focused on supporting States/Districts/schools on implementing effective instructional practice, primarily in the area of early reading. But I love to get geeky about a lot of things—as all doctoral wanna-bees are :)
My passions outside of education include cooking and tennis!

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
1-2017 10 06 College of Education Personnel Portraits-44