Special Education: Accident Can't Derail Teaching Dream

The traffic accident that sidelined Cheryl Salyer didn't slow down her dream of becoming a teacher.

Compassionate classmates, a determined University of South Florida professor and technology saw to that.

With the help of a computer software program, Salyer can sit in her home in Dade City and continue the class work that will allow her to become a special education teacher after working for years as an instructional assistant.

Her classmates, gathered on the other side of Pasco County in a portable classroom at Hudson High School, see and hear her on a laptop computer screen.

She sees and hears them.

Mostly, it works.

"Sometimes the subtlety of what's going on in the room, you miss," said Dawn Hudak-Puckhaber, a classmate who played a key role in making sure Salyer remained in class after the accident.

It also doesn't help when the Internet connection fails. Then they go to Plan B. Salyer calls in and they put her on speaker phone, a manageable but less desirable alternative.

"I get frustrated. They get frustrated," Salyer said. "We just laugh it off."

Patty McHatton, an assistant professor in the special education department at USF, said Salyer's continued participation via the computer is a tribute to her determination and the determination of her classmates, who pitched in to help keep her on track.

"She's amazing," McHatton said. "The whole group is amazing."

A year ago, Salyer and six others became the first group to enter a transition-to-teaching program for instructional assistants in Pasco County schools.

The program, paid through a grant, is designed to train the instructional assistants to become special education teachers because there is a critical shortage of such teachers. The goal is to graduate 50 from the program.

McHatton said the grant allows some of the classes to be taught at school sites in Pasco, though for other classes the students must travel to USF.

Salyer, an instructional assistant at Centennial Middle, said she was driving to USF for a night class on June 3 when the wreck occurred. She spent the next week in the hospital. After she was discharged she had to return for a series of surgeries on her right leg.

She said she isn't expected to have full use of the leg until January.

Hudak-Puckhaber was one of the first to learn about the wreck. She contacted McHatton, and the plan was hatched to make sure Salyer could continue with the class.

Hudak-Puckhaber said it shouldn't be surprising the effort was made. This is a group, after all, of people studying to teach special education students. It wasn't a question of whether they would make accommodations for Salyer. It was a question of which technology they would use.

"I was in tears," Salyer said. "I really thought I wasn't going to continue on with my friends in the cohort. I wanted to finish with them and not fall behind."

The group is scheduled to complete the program in April.

Salyer made her first class appearance via computer while she was still in the hospital. Physical therapists, nurses and doctors darted in and out of the room as Salyer tried to follow the lesson.

Kim Tucker, communications director for USF's College of Education, said the situation with Salyer is unusual. Many students are involved in distance education through online courses, but "this is beyond even that," she said.

"This is a special accommodation Dr. McHatton made for this student," Tucker said.

Technology didn't solve all the class problems for Salyer. Sometimes she needs class materials, so a courier system was established. Hudak-Puckhaber drives the materials to the Flying J truck stop at State Road 52 and Interstate 75 and hands them off to friends of Salyer's who take them the rest of the way to Dade City.

The wreck has caused other changes in Salyer's life. She and her husband have two children. She used to drive them to soccer games and karate lessons but can't do that right now.

Salyer holds a black belt in karate and laments that she can't assist her children with their lessons the way she used to.

There is an upside, though.

"It has made my kids more independent," Salyer said.