COLLEAGUES
Shannon Ashby, M.Ed.
Shannon R. Ashby, M.Ed. is a Nationally Board Certified Teacher with over 10 years of teaching experience. She earned a Master’s Degree in Education, with an emphasis in Special Education from Southern Oregon University and her B.A. in psychology from Oregon State University. In her tenure as a special education teacher, she became passionate about students who have been labeled with emotional disabilities and whose behavior impacted their ability to make progress in the General Education setting. Her curiosity and enjoyment of working with this population drove her to obtain an Autism Certificate in 2010 and an Interpersonal Neurobiology Certificate in 2016.
Through ongoing education and collaboration with her mentor, Rick Robinson, as well as other respected colleagues, she developed her own style of implementing neurodevelopmental theories in her self-contained classroom. Throughout her 10 years of work with Dr. Robinson, she was able to develop and adapt her methodology to understand the neurological development occurring within her students. Shifting her teaching to a regulatory approach through the neurodevelopmental lens resulted in a significant increase in outcomes for her students. Her class began to make more academic progress then she had ever seen, as well as substantial progress towards their social and emotional goals.
Shannon has taken a keen interest in educating other teachers about this approach. For the past 3 years she has coached teachers in the neurodevelopmental lens. This has included creating and providing professional development for all staff working within the self-contained program throughout the school year; observing teachers and providing weekly feedback in fine-tuning their approach; working with parents and families to understand their child's development; and working directly with students with severe emotional needs. Her experience as a special educator and deep knowledge of special education law has helped her assist other teachers in designing effective individualized education plans.
Shannon has assisted in professional development within a variety of school districts who seek to make a paradigm shift in the way they work with and view their students with demanding academic, social, emotional and behavioral needs. She has presented at multiple PBIS conferences, and at the Confederation of Oregon School Administrators. Shannon is eager to share her knowledge of bridging the gap between the theory of Interpersonal Neurobiology and day-to-day practices within the classroom.