Employee Testimonials

Touching Lives – Verlene Warner
Special educator nears 30 years of service to Heartspring

For almost 30 years she has helped children with special needs experience music. She has mentored teachers who strive to improve the lives of children with disabilities. She has dedicated herself to ensuring that every child is treated with dignity and respect. She has encouraged Heartspring students to utilize their creativity to express themselves as individuals. She has been an advocate for special education as a source of knowledge and support. She is Verlene Warner, Heartspring School’s music specialist and pre-vocational training instructor.

Verlene came to Heartspring in 1978 and her philosophy is based on the whole child, regardless of individual differences. She maintains that all children should be accepted first as individuals. It is her belief that all children should be granted the experiences that will assist in developing each child’s potential to the fullest. She aims to help every student experience enjoyment, creative expression, heartfelt downfalls and spontaneous responses. In other words, “the whole life of the child will sparkle with zest and originality.”

Over the course of Verlene’s career, she has seen thousands of lives change as children pass through Heartspring’s program. Parents commend Verlene for her ability to help children accomplish what many thought was impossible. “Every once in a while, make it rarely, in the course of guiding the development of a mentally and physically handicapped child, someone stands in the road and says, ‘I’m Here!’” said Heartspring parent Herb Altman. “Verlene Warner is such, said such, and does what all parents of handicapped children search for – serves as a beacon to whom all others turn for direction.”

In addition to being a teacher, mentor and advocate in the area of special education, she is also a mother of a child with special needs. She and her husband Jimmy adopted their son Michael, a Heartspring student, after being his foster parents since age 8. Today Michael is 27 and has a successful career at an area organization that offers employment to adults with disabilities. Verlene’s two other sons, John (19) and JJ (14) rally around their brother. “They take care of each other,” she said. “Mike participates in the boys’ sports as a cheerleader. They don’t know anything different.”

Though her list of accomplishments is long, at the forefront are Verlene’s memorable holiday programs that have positively impacted parents, staff and community members…not to mention the sense of pride and accomplishment the programs have given the students. Each December, students perform in a program showcasing their hard work in choir and music classes. For those students who are non-verbal, they are able to display their dance or percussion skills. “People don’t realize the abilities of the special learner and what they can overcome,” said Verlene. “People don’t always realize the extra step these kids take to play a bell or sing ‘La’.”

The September issue of Exceptional Parent Magazine name Verlene a model of excellence in education and in March 2007, Verlene was recognized as the Kansas Association of Special Education Administrators Professional of the Year; an award that is highly deserved by a woman whose insight and commitment has been a benefit to Heartspring students, employees and parents for almost 30 years.

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