St. Joseph Intervention/Special Education Program

Here at St. Joseph we are fortunate to have an eclectic group of professionals who are working together as a team to address several student’s needs within and out of the classroom. Our intervention team works together to meet many different needs including K-8 intervention, Special Education through IEPs, and Service Plans.  The intervention team includes 3 Intervention Specialists, 2 aides, and 1 Speech and Language Therapist. Each member of the team works with classroom teachers, parents, and each other to continue developing materials and the necessary instruction for each of them to be individually successful.

Our lead Intervention Specialist, Sarah Graf, has been with St. Joseph for 18 years. She taught 1^st grade for 5 years and is now serving our students through intervention grades K-8. She provides service to students on a Service Plan (students who are receiving specially designed instruction) as well as students who qualify for the RTI (Response to Intervention) program. She provides a great deal of instruction to increase reading fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension growth through the Amplify Reading InterventionPprogram as well as Orton Gillingham/Phonics Dance instruction.

Christian Baker is an Intervention Specialist with 12 years of teaching experience. Prior to coming to St. Joseph two years ago, Mrs. Baker taught for 11 years within the public sector (Hamilton City and Edgewood City Schools). Mrs. Baker holds a Bachelor's Degree in Mild-Moderate Special Education from Miami University. Additionally, she has her State of Ohio highly qualified certifications in the areas of Language Arts and Science. Mrs. Baker is also certified in Orton-Gillingham Comprehensive reading intervention for primary grades and Orton-Gillingham Morphology for the junior high level students. Mrs. Baker enjoys working with our intervention students and helping them reach their fullest potential!

Intervention Specialist, Rhonda Shepherd, has been with St. Joseph for 13 years. She works with students on IEPs. She has great success in building relationships with students and helping them find success in all areas of their lives academically and outside of the classroom. Mrs. Shepherd takes the time to create individual materials that involve hands on real life experiences for each of the students she works with.