Dr. Mary Lasater has devoted over twenty-five years to the education of students with disabilities as a special education teacher, visiting university instructor, staff developer, author, and independent consultant. Dr. Lasater continues to train and mentor personnel on best practices for students with disabilities in today’s classrooms.
Dr. Lasater's experience in curriculum design and staff development includes:
Editor and author of numerous articles in Developing Highly Qualified Paraeducators newsletter published by LRP Publications.
Director for the five-year Texas Middle School Inclusion Grant ((Academic Inclusive Momentum (AIM) Project) funded by the Texas Council for Developmental Disabilities which ended in May, 2005.
General partner and education consultant for ten years for former business, LR Consulting.
Author and Co-author of training materials that include :
The Highly Qualified Paraeducator (22 eLearning training modules)
Paraeducators: LifeLines in the Classroom training series (6 direct training modules)
Power Paraeducator: Testing and Portfolio Documentation Guide (accompanies the LifeLines training series)
Triplicity: An Administrator’s Guide to Facilitating the Partner Teacher/Paraeducator Partnership
Melding: A Partner Teacher’s Guide to Working with Paraeducators who Support Students with Disabilities
Maxim: Linking Functional-Contextual Assessment to the Instructional Process
Students First: Parents as Partners in the Special Education Process.
Developer and trainer on special education related topics such as, skill building for paraeducators, their partner teachers, administrator training on paraeducator issues, co-teaching, differentiated instruction, IEP development, cooperative learning as an inclusive instructional model, strategies for students with autism, staffing patterns and scheduling.
Presenter at more than 40 state and national conferences, such as Council for Exceptional Children, TASH, National Resource Center for Paraprofessionals, LRP Institute and Inclusion Works.
Author and Co-author of 11 education articles in Education and Treatment of Children, Journal of Staff Development, Teaching Exceptional Children, The Journal of the Texas Middle School Association.
Editor (2006) and author of 59 articles in Developing Highly Qualified Paraeducators newsletters (LRP Publications).
