Resources - Staff

Heartspring's greatest resources and assets are the wonderful staff dedicated to our students. Some of our professionals have maintained their commitment to helping children with special needs for over 25 years. Each day our teachers, paraprofessionals, and therapists demonstrate the professional competence and treatment outcomes that make Heartspring a “first choice” school for children with special needs.

Travis Grover, Heartspring’s adapted physical education teacher, collaborated in a research study with Wichita State University professors Ken Pitetti, and Andrew Rendoff, and Oregon State University professor Michael Beets. The study, The Efficacy of a 9-Month Treadmill Walking Program on the Exercise Capacity and Weight Reduction for Adolescents with Severe Autism, was published in the Journal of Autism and Developmental Disabilities, July 2007 issue. Exceptional Parent Magazine recognized Heartspring teacher Travis Grover as a Model of Excellence in the September 2007 issue. He was presented the Golden Apple Teacher Award by KAKE TV, Papa John's Pizza and Davis-Moore in November 2008.
	Connie Erbert is the Director of CARE and Autism Outreach. Connie will be establishing the Community of Autism Resources and Education (CARE) Program at Heartspring. The focus of this program will be to provide parents with a foundation with which to build appropriate resources and interventions for their child and family as well. Connie was featured in Exceptional Parent Magazine as a Model of Excellence in Education in September 2008. Learn more about Connie. Presentations: Asperger Syndrome and the Real World, SRS, Wichita, KS, August 2008. Asperger Syndrome, Living Outside the Bell Curve, McPherson Public Schools, McPherson, KS, October 2008 Autism and Asperger Syndrome Today, Civitan Club, Wichita, KS, January 2009 Autism Spectrum Disorders and Heartspring, Kiwanis Club, Wichita, KS, February 2009. Asperger Syndrome and Transition to Adulthood, ESSDACK, Hutchinson, KS, February 2009. Autism Spectrum Disorders, Pilot Club, Wichita, KS, March 2009 International Training for Autism Spectrum Disorders: China, Oxford Round Table, Oxford, England, March 2009 Working with Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders, Dr. Walker Dental Offices, Wichita, KS, June 2009. Asperger Syndrome and the Workplace, Service Master, Wichita, KS, June 2009.
Lindsay Salomon, director of school therpies and applied technology Alternative and Augmentative Communication and Autism, Wichita State University, March 2009. Communication and Autism, special presentation for speech-language pathology students from Denmark, Heartspring, January 2009. The Department of Communication Disorders and Sciences at Wichita State University Above and Beyond Award, May 2009
Kimberly Becker, directory of Pediatric Services & the Hearing Center, presented Early Childhood Interventions and Strategies at the Growing with Children Conference, Wichita, KS in March 2009. She also presented Autism Through the Life Span at the Families Together Conference, Salina, KS, in April 2009.
Cara Rapp, director of admissions, gave a Heartspring School presentation at the Midwest Educational Leadership Conference, Breckenridge, CO in June 2009.
Bruce Hauser, Ph. D., psychologist at Heartspring, presented The Use of Low Dose Invega to Address Explosive Behaviors and Non-cooperation in an Adolescent Male with Autism at the Association for Behavior Analysis International Autism Conference, Jacksonville, FL in February 2009.
Mimi French, occupational therapist at Heartspring Fine Motor/Handwriting In-service for preschool, kindergarten and first grade teachers, Wichita Collegiate School, Wichita, KS, November 2008. Sensory Processing and Self Regulation In-services for preschool, kindergarten and first grade teachers, Wichita Collegiate School, Wichtia, KS, February 2009. Sensory Processing and Self Regulation In-services for preschool, kindergarten, first and second grade teachers, Andover Schools, Andover, KS, April 2009.
		Katie Grover and Jennifer Harjo received four ADDY Awards in 2008 for the Heartspring School Viewbook (gold), Heartspring’s Dialogue (bronze), Heartspring Re-branding Campaign (silver), KidCheck Campaign (bronze). They were also presented two Clarus Excellence Awards in 2008 for the Heartspring School Viewbook, brochure category and Heartspring's Dialogue, magazine category. They received three ADDY Awards in 2009 for Heartspring's Annual Report, Heartspring Dialogue and the Autism CARE Walk at Heartspring logo.
		Heartspring audiologists, Linda Parmiter-Jacobs and Carol Jared-Brown, recently authored the article, Making critical connections, published in the Advance for Audiologists magazine September/October issue.

Steve has dedicated half of his life to the mission at Heartspring. In 1982, he joined the staff as a home paraeducator. Since beginning his career, he transitioned to Crisis/Assessment Unit Counselor, Psychological Services Assistant, and is currently the Management Information Systems Manager (MIS). Learn more about Steve.

Deb Harr had a desire to work with children with special needs. That desire brought to her Heartspring over 25 years ago. In 1981, Deb joined the staff at Heartspring working with hearing impaired children in a preschool classroom. It was there that she learned how to help children learn to listen and to speak. Learn more about Deb.

Verlene Warner has helped children with special needs experience music for almost 30 years at Heartspring. She was recognized by Exceptional Parent Magazine as a Model of Excellence. Verlene was also named Professional of the Year by the Kansas Association of Special Education Administrators; 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.

Heartspring professional staff provides technical expertise and management for the organization. Heartspring professional staff includes experienced and highly-trained special education teachers, a developmental pediatrician, pediatric nurse practitioners (one of which is on call 24 hrs/day), behavioral psychologists, staff trainers, behavior specialists, occupational and physical therapists, speech/language pathologists and para educators. We also have a dietician, pediatric neurologist and pediatric psychiatrist as consultants.

We also invite you to meet our executive staff.