Karen Fish is an Educational Consultant for MindWell. She has experience teaching special education at all levels, from kindergarten through high school in both public and private schools. She has taught students with various types of issues, including learning differences, emotional challenges, ADHD and autism spectrum disorders. Her public school experience includes Fairfax County Public Schools and Loudoun County Schools.
Most recently, Karen was the Upper School Director at the Auburn School, a private school for students with social and communication weaknesses. While at Auburn, Karen also served as the social learning specialist and guidance counselor for the upper school students. As part of the Auburn team of specialists, she helped design and implement individualized learning and behavior plans for the students.
EDUCATION: University of Virginia, M.Ed. Special Education; James Madison University, double majors in Special Education and Psychology magna cum laude.
MEMBERSHIP: Children and Adults with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (CHADD), Learning Disabilities Association
SERVICES PROVIDED: Parent Consultation for special education services, IEP meeting consultation, school observations, behavior intervention plans, ADHD and Executive Functioning Coaching, social support for children and teens with ASD
EXPERTISE:
- Autism Spectrum Disorders
- ADD/ADHD
- Behavioral Difficulties
- Social Skills Weaknesses
- Executive Functioning Deficits
When working with families, Karen focuses on learning and behavior interventions that prevent the student from experiencing frustration and failure. Using testing recommendations from our psychologists, she designs and models proactive strategies that help increase the learning and self-confidence of the child. Working together with the parents and the child in the home, she can provide executive functioning coaching, behavior intervention plans, social skills coaching, and homework help strategies.
Karen is also available to attend parent-teacher conferences, IEP meetings and other school functions to ensure the best possible goals and teaching practices are in place for your child at school. She can observe your child in his/her classroom to provide families and teachers with new insights on the effectiveness of learning programs and classroom structure. If your child isn’t making the progress in school that you would expect, then a classroom observation can help pinpoint possible causes. Then, together with teachers and parents, Karen can design interventions that work best for the individual child. Contact MindWell today to schedule a consultation with Karen.
Karen is married and has three children with unique learning styles. She enjoys gardening, hiking and traveling with her family.