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Karen Hamilton Barineau Educator of the Year Award This award recognizes an individual who has gone above and beyond the required duties of a classroom teacher in a public or private school, or an instructor who has helped people with developmental disabilities to live with greater independence. Karen Hamilton Barineau is an Autism Specialist for DeKalb County Schools. Her 18 years of experience working with students with disabilities have given her great expertise for her current role – consulting with teachers on behavior, curriculum, and instruction, and helping them implement the strategies in the classroom. Ms. Barineau also provides district level training for special education teachers to access the Georgia Performance Standards and develop their Georgia Alternative Assessment portfolios. She is a trainer certified by the Crisis Prevention Institute to provide Crisis Prevention Intervention training. She has presented training for parents and professionals on a local, state, and national level. According to colleague Kent Logan, Ms. Barineau has refined her teaching to an art form and demonstrates tireless energy and vision in all the work she does. She has focused on building capacity for the county. She pro-actively trained teachers and administrators, as well as developed a comprehensive in-service curriculum to train para-professionals district-wide on visual supports, implementing augmentative communication, and solving behavior problems. She coordinates the staff development activities for the Demonstration Classroom training which provides in depth training and support for a core group of 8-12 teachers and 16-24 speech pathologists and occupational therapists each year. She has developed extensive resources for teachers, administrators, and parents including a comprehensive lending library, web based resources on autism for DeKalb’s curriculum center, curriculum activities, and visual supports for students. In addition to her work with DeKalb County, she has been involved with Special Olympics and the Autism Society of Georgia. She is a key Conference Committee member for the Autism Society of Georgia and has also served on the Executive Board. With her insightful leadership, the annual Autism Conference has become one of the premiere conferences in the state for teachers and parents. As Dr. Logan states, Ms. Barineau is the one who is called when the district or parents or professional organizations need that key person to do the essential jobs, the time consuming jobs and do them with quality and collaboration. |
Karen Hamilton Barineau
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