Educators with Disabilities

I love teaching! I love helping students find the best way they can learn and go with it. I encourage all types of learning. I have empathy for my mild/moderate students because I was once one of them. I received special education services in Elementary school but was able to “exit” when I entered Jr. High.

Melanie Leyva-Abad is very excited to say that she has taught special education for 26 years. She loves working with young children and their families and is a true believer in early intervention and the positive impact it can have on a child. She taught preschool special education for nine years and kindergarten through third grade for 18 years.

Felicia is a K -4 special education teacher entering her third year in the Metro Nashville public schools system in Nashville, Tennessee, working with students with Mild-moderate disabilities such as ADHD and dyslexia. As a collaborative teacher for major and at-risk students who cannot walk, feed or go to the bathroom by themselves, Felicia has supported youth with disabilities in New York, Nashville, and Rhode Island. She is a figure skating instructor and is a wicked math intervention teacher.

Angela Schooner is an early-career, high school special education teacher. She works with 14 to 21-year-old students at Pillar High School in Livingston, New Jersey. Read her inspiring story of how living with ADHD has both challenged and inspired her to achieve her dreams.