Teacher Uses Technology to Help Students With Special Needs Reach Their Full Potential

Morgan Kolis is a problem-solver.

The elementary special education teacher said that’s one of the best parts of her job—she likes figuring out what the issue or hurdle is and then finding a way for her students to overcome it. It might be by helping them change their behavior or it might be by modifying a lesson.

“No day is the same,” she said.

Kolis teaches at in Brecksville. She’s spent most of her career in the district—eight of her nine years—and she’s made teaching her life.

“She is so dedicated, so committed to children with special needs, to all children,” said Hilton Principal David Martin.

Martin said Kolis is “tireless” in her advocacy for her students, and she’s always searching for ways to meet students’ needs, especially through technology.

The students she works with might be classified as high-needs—they have autism, genetic disorders and speech and language disorders—but she wants them to have access to the ever-important technology skills in today’s world. And they really warm to it. During a , students who struggled to give a speech in front of the class had made their own “Glogs” on the subject on the computer, complete with text and pictures.

Through grants, Kolis has brought more and more technology into her classroom. This year, the seven students worked on a global read-a-long project, talking to students in Georgia and Michigan by using Skype. The students use iPads in the classroom, finding apps that relate to their lessons. And one student, who has autism, is even using the iPad to communicate. Before, he couldn’t tell his teachers anything. Now, he can take part in reading groups and lessons.

“It has opened up worlds for him,” Kolis said.

It’s not a miracle; just a less expensive communication device, another option for his family, she said. Kolis tends to focus on the little, daily wins in the classroom—the things that would go unnoticed in their outside classes:

• When a student who was unable to feed himself used a spoon for the first time.
• When a young girl, three levels below grade level, picked up an iPad and figured out how to use the camera before the teacher did.
• When a little boy stopped throwing his toothbrush across the room.

The academics are important in Kolis’ classroom, but so are the life skills. At this grade level, kindergarten through third, her students have to be taught more than just their ABCs and numbers—although those are important, too. The students need to learn how to care for themselves, how to interact with others.

Kolis attributes a lot of these successes to her team at Hilton—the aides in her classroom, Barb Vajda, Cathi Kovach, Deb Eschweiler, Dennis Svozil, and Kathy D'Agostino, Effie Konstas, the speech pathologist, and Joe D'Alessandro, the school psychologist.

“Sometimes, I don’t know what I would do without them,” she said.

She also reaches out online. At Hilton, she’s the only teacher working with students with moderate to severe disabilities. Online, she can interact with teachers from all over the world. She’s active on social media, and maintains two education blogs—one aimed at the school community and one that looks at special education in general.

But they all come back to the kids—Kolis’ blogs are sprinkled with anecdotes about student successes. Posts about autism awareness and differentiation end up being about the kids who embodied those topics for her.

And, she said, the kids are what it’s really about. Not the awards, of which she’s won quite a few, or the paperwork. Even on their worst days, the kids do something to make her smile.

And that makes it all worth it.