Dr. Andrea Hathcote, TJC professor of Learning Framework, has co-written an educational guide to help special education instructors to better understand and document the needs of their students.
Hathcote and Dr. Kathleen Boothe, associate professor of special education at Southeastern Oklahoma State University, have written “A Case Study Approach to Writing Individualized Special Education Documents: From Preschool to Graduation,” which was published in January by the Council for Exceptional Children. It is available at ExceptionalChildren.org/store/books.
The book follows the educational journey of Rochelle, a special education student, from Head Start (pre-k) through high school. Through Rochelle’s struggles and successes, readers gain insight on how to apply her situation to their own work in composing important documents that special education students require during their education, including: Individualized Family Service Plan (IFSP), Individualized Education Plan (IEP), a Functional Behavioral Assessment (FBA) and Behavior Intervention Plan (BIP), and finally, an Individualized Transition Plan (ITP).
Hathcote has spent most of her career serving at-risk students. Her educational background is in special education, where she specialized in working with students who have emotional and behavioral challenges. She has been a classroom teacher, school administrator and Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) volunteer. She is a parent of children with exceptional needs, and she herself has a learning disability. Her passion for helping all students succeed is personal.
She joined TJC as an adjunct (part-time) professor in 2015 and became a full-time professor in 2018. She has been a professor and coordinator for TJC’s TRIO Student Support Services division, a federally funded grant program focused on reducing barriers for first-generation, low-income students and students with disabilities; and she is an active member of the Texas Community College Teachers Association.
Her current research interest includes providing undergraduate research opportunities in the TJC Presidential Honors Program’s first-year experience courses.