Catherine G. Hicks is an educator specializing in special education. At Blaine Elementary School, she has worked continuously for seven years to provide innovative, student-centered programs that address low-incidence complex learning disabilities and health impairments. She has extensive training in special education, including ABA therapy and crisis prevention training, and her background also includes adventure-based education, leadership in crisis intervention in the context of individualized wilderness intervention programs, and collaboration with diverse teams, consisting of school based and private care providers. At Blaine Elementary School, Catherine G. Hicks’ commitment to best practices and trauma-informed pedagogy ensures that all students receive equitable opportunities to succeed academically and functionally.
Between 2000 and 2005, Catherine G. Hicks served as a wilderness and crisis-intervention counselor. In this role, she led wilderness expeditions, taught survival skills, and facilitated emotional growth workshops, emphasizing resilience, teamwork, and personal development. It was during this time that she began to learn more about learning disabilities and social-emotional learning needs, as many of the students in her expedition groups suffered from undiagnosed learning disabilities. Seeing first hand the long-term affects of undiagnosed learning disabilities spurred Ms. Hicks to seek a more formal education through the teacher education program at Western Washington University, with an emphasis in special education and early childhood education. During her teacher education program she had the opportunity to travel with fellow teachers-in-training and two leaders in special education research and development to Kenya for a two-month teaching internship. Not only did this provide an opportunity to practice various teaching strategies, but it also strengthened her depth of understanding of education in general and in the context of international cooperation with teachers from a different pedagogical background..
In 2012, Ms. Hicks transitioned into public education as a special education teacher for Life Skills K–5 at the Meridian School District in Washington. She provided instruction for children with low-incidence learning disabilities, including dyslexia, ADHD, Down syndrome, Fragile X syndrome, and autism, as well as students with complex health impairments. She developed individualized educational programs, integrated functional and academic skills instruction into daily practice, and worked closely with families and support staff to optimize student learning. During her tenure at the Meridian School District she began the process of National Board Certification, a national level teacher certification process to highlight the depth and breadth of experience that she had begun to acquire. She is a National Board Certified Exceptional Needs Specialist with 13+ years coordinating eligibility, structured assessment and regulatory compliance processes for individuals with complex disabilities. During her 13+ years of teaching, she also pursued and was awarded with honors a Masters of Science in Curriculum and Instruction as well as renewing her National Boards Certificate. Her teaching and National Boards certificates remain valid through 2031. Additionally, she has an extensive background leading structured intake-style IEP meetings, gathering and documenting sensitive personal information in compliance with state and federal guidelines, and is recognized for her professionalism, procedural integrity and ability to manage sensitive conversations with clarity and empathy while adhering to established guidelines.