As Spectrum360 has continued to grow and develop in a quest to keep our promise of providing “options across a lifetime”, it became clear that we needed to add staff to our administrative team. Lucky for us, Dr. Danielle Taylor was the perfect fit. Danielle joined our staff as Spectrum360’s Assistant Director last fall, and she has been working hard ever since! And while Danielle is often behind the scenes, working with Spectrum360 and all its programs to help us fulfill our mission and vision, we thought it was time that you got to know a little bit about her.
What is your educational background?
Academic environments have always felt like home to me so over time I developed a passion for education. In addition, I was drawn to opportunities that allowed me to connect with others and to understand their perspectives. I knew from an early age that I wanted to pursue psychology, and was quite pleased to discover the field of school psychology, which combined my areas of interest, during my undergraduate education. As such, I earned my doctorate in school psychology.
How long have you been working in special education?
Professionally, I’ve been in special education for a little over a decade although I’ve been connected to the field since I was a teenager. In high school, I assisted a local librarian with facilitating reading events including individual tutoring for students with significant learning challenges. As a college student, I was a mental health technician on an inpatient adolescent psychiatric unit where I coordinated a summer school program during the months that contract teachers were unavailable. Those experiences were fundamental to my growth as a person and as a professional so to me, they are an important part of my career in the field.
When did you join Spectrum360?
It’s hard to believe but I have been here for less than a year! I started on October 12th, 2018.
What are your goals at Spectrum360?
My primary goal is to help Spectrum360 maintain the excellence it has already achieved as well as to assist with efforts to grow in ways that better serve our students, clients, and their families. I suppose that’s a fancy way of saying that I aim to help everyone keep up the good work!
There are so many amazing things happening on a daily basis at S360 that it can be difficult to keep track or keep up with everything, especially on different campuses. As such, one of my other goals is to help our teams coordinate and collaborate more so we can build connections and streamline our efforts!
What do you like to do when you are not working?
When I’m not working, I enjoy spending time with my dog, Baxter. He is 14 year old Pomeranian mix, a semi-retired therapy dog, and an absolute delight. I’m also an avid runner so I spend a significant amount of time on the road getting my miles in. I just did my first half marathon in April and look forward to training hard for many more milestone races in the future. If anyone wants to join me for a long weekend run let me know!