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Disabilities don't hold back her students

Pasco County's Teacher of the Year makes learning fun for special-needs prekindergarteners.

By REBECCA CATALANELLO
Published February 19, 2005

NEW PORT RICHEY - Primary colors bathe Miss Sue's classroom. Books are crammed in every corner. Tinkertoys, Legos and blocks fill canisters. Seventeen fidgety kids ages 3 to 5 sit in their maroon kid-sized chairs, one moment singing "B-I-N-G-O" with all their might and then next showing they know that six equals six and that three hugs plus four hugs equals seven hugs.

"We're having big fun! Big fun!" they sing as Miss Sue smiles and sings with them, moving her hands as they move their hands, looking each of them in the eye. Miss Sue is Suzanne Beane, the perpetually rosy-cheeked, hearty-laughing 43-year-old teacher with soulful brown eyes and a conviction that getting prekindergarteners dancing and singing to We Are Family helps save the "classics" from dying.

Her classroom looks at first like any classroom designed for youngsters.

But every child in this Cypress Elementary School class has some sort of disability.

A 4-year-old boy with autistic tendencies sweeps the air with his hands, spelling out words as he says or thinks them. A sandy-haired 3-year-old uses a wheeled metal walker covered in Sponge Bob stickers to help him cover long distances.

These are children with labels that lead some to guess they'll never read, let alone add, subtract, joke, play, talk or write like their peers. They are physically impaired, learning disabled, speech impaired or mentally handicapped.

But in Sue Beane's eyes, these kids are sponges, capable of learning and understanding almost anything when it's packaged in fun. That conviction is just one of the reasons she was named Pasco County Teacher of the Year this week.

"It's like poetry," Evan Cadmus says of Beane's teaching style. "This could be sad here, but she makes it a joyful place."

Cadmus, who helps transition toddlers into Pasco County's prekindergarten programs, first witnessed Beane's effect on children about 14 years ago. Beane, a former pizza deliverer with a psychology degree, was making about $15,000 working with infants and toddlers with disabilities at the Association for Retarded Citizens.

"One day," Beane remembers, "Evan said, "Why don't you come to district and make some real money.' " All the teachers who gathered in Beane's classroom to celebrate her award Friday morning laughed at the sentiment.

"Actually, what I said was, "When are you going to get a real job?' " Cadmus says in return.

Beane started teaching prekindergarten at Cypress 13 years ago under the district's alternative certification program. Soon, she enrolled in a master's program at University of South Florida, getting a degree in behavior disorders in 1998.

Today, her impact stretches beyond the classroom into her students' homes, to the mothers and fathers who often find themselves struggling to understand their children, coping day to day to come to terms with their youngster's disabilities.

She writes daily notes to parents about their children's activities. And every Friday she sends home a newsletter that includes activities parents can use to reinforce classroom lessons. In the end, parents often become her friends.

"She's been a wonderful shoulder to cry on," says Angela Kanakis, mother of 4-year-old Alec, who came to Beane at age 3, relatively nonverbal and socially withdrawn. Today, Alec, who exhibits autistic qualities, reads out loud and to himself, follows written and spoken directions, interacts with other children and, with Beane's nudging, is newly toilet trained.

Beane approaches it with her trademark humor: "He can know how to read the Constitution, but it's not going to help him at all if he's in a pull-up."

Kanakis communicated to Beane early on the sadness she felt that her son had never learned to call her "Mommy." Beane took it as a challenge and began referring to Kanakis in her conversations with Alec: "Do you want to call Mommy? Wait until we show Mommy."

One day, after a successful potty run, Alec was so excited about his accomplishment, he asked Beane if he could call "Mommy" to tell her.

It's a word he uses a lot now.

"I was always worried about what his life would be like," Kanakis says of her experience before meeting Beane. "Now, I think he's just going to do great."

Beane doesn't work alone. To parents at first reticent to enroll their children in a special-needs class, the activity may appear chaotic. But Beane and her fellow teacher, Kim Ogden, juggle instruction for their combined 19 students in an organized fashion - "a finely tuned machine" they call it. They each have an instructional assistant to help the children. And as a teacher trainer, Beane frequently hosts college interns, modeling the best ways to engage children with disabilities.

Even Ogden, Beane's former instructional assistant, became a teacher in response to Beane's encouragement.

"When teachers are struggling with ideas, she's the one they go to," Cypress principal Carole Geibel says. With good reason. Beane's peers say her children often move into mainstream kindergarten more prepared than some of their nondisabled counterparts.

"I don't know how she does it," said Nicole Fisher, a music teacher who said Beane's students continually stand out.

Beane's reputation also has catapulted her onto the local political stage. She is active in the local teachers union and speaks up in her role as chairwoman of the school advisory council. She said she favors universal prekindergarten if implemented correctly, but she doesn't think Florida's controversial program promises much success as it is currently designed.

"They're unstoppable," she says of her students' learning capability. If you give them the right circumstances, she says - a gifted teacher and enough time to learn - they will exceed expectations. They will surprise you.

Students and teachers line the sidewalks of the school. They are clapping and hooting and hollering. It's a surprise standing ovation for their newly named Teacher of the Year.

"Can you take me on a walk?" one of Beane's students had asked her minutes before. Ogden smiled at Beane and signaled that, yes, a walk was in order.

Now, the 17 children of the Wee Bears Team are scooting down the sidewalks behind their teacher, Miss Sue. Cheers of congratulations welcome them at every turn.

Three-year-old Zackary Burke brings up the rear, plowing forward with his Sponge Bob walker, his little legs unrelenting, to follow in the path his teacher left for him.

[Last modified February 19, 2005, 00:57:17]