Contact Us

Wisconsin CESA Districts

Shelly Weingarten, OTR, has been an Assistive Technology Consultant for the Wisconsin Assistive Technology Initiative since 1997. Graduated from UW-Milwaukee with a BS in OT, certified in sensory integration and recently trained under Pat Wolfe in the area of Learning, Memory and the Brain. (She would love to talk about her training if she can remember it.) Shelly came to WATI with 15 years experience working in the schools as an itinerant OT. Her school experienced included working with children from ages 3-21. Many years were spent in the severe and profound classrooms with children with multiple learning differences and limited speech. She spent three years as part of a diagnostic team that serviced the North Shore Schools. Currently Shelly is trained as a trainer for Environmental Communication Teaching and does numerous trainings in the assessment and implementation of Every Move Counts a program for children with severe and profound learning differences.

Jill is a special education teacher with over 18 years of classroom experience. She has worked with children with physical disabilities and also with children with severe/profound multiple disabilities. Her undergraduate degree is in mental retardation K-12 from the University of Wisconsin- Oshkosh. Her masters degree is from UW Whitewater in severe/profound multiple disabilities. Jill has presented at numerous regional, state and national conferences. She is certified in Assistive Technology in Wisconsin and also holds national certification as an Assistive Technology Practioner (ATP) from RESNA (Rehabilitation Engineering and Assistive Technology Society of North America). Jill has a special interest in the adaptation of curriculum and materials to promote the active participation of students with disabilities in their natural school environments.

Cindy is a graduate of UW Milwaukee with a BS in Occupational Therapy. She has been a practicing Occupational Therapist for 20 years, the past 16 years with CESA #3 as an itinerant school based therapist. She has worked with children with physical and learning disabilities, autism, and severe/profound multiple disabilities, early childhood through grade 12. Previous experience includes hospital, home health, nursing home, and adult sheltered work setting. Cindy began the Cesa 3 Assistive Technology position in 2001 and is continuing part time direct therapy. Cindy's special interests are the OT based technologies from low tech writing techniques to high tech voice recognition.

Lillian received her Masters of Science-Communication Disorders degree from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She currently holds Wisconsin DPI Certification: 820 Speech/Language Pathology and Certificate of Clinical Competence in Speech/Language Pathology from the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association. Lillian has 12 years of work experience as Speech/Language Pathologist in both the educational and hospital settings. Lillian provided speech/language therapy services to students pre-kindergarten through grade 12 with a wide range of disabilities, which include cognitive, emotional, learning disability and autism. She has experience in development and implementation of assistive technology in the areas of communication, reading, writing and social interaction. In her spare time Lillian enjoys scrap booking, gardening and 4-wheeling with her family.

Judi Cumley is the CESA 5 Assistive Technology Consultant and also the Director of their SEIMC. Judi has worked as a Special Education teacher for 18 years in California and Nebraska with Early Childhood, Multi-Handicapped, and Learning Disabled students and served as a trainer for Madeline Hunter workshops in Elements of Effective Teaching. Judi has been a Wisconsin Assistive Technology Regional Consultant since 1995. She conducts large and small group workshops in assistive technology equipment, services, and implementation and has established study groups in augmentative communication and assistive technology within CESA 5. She has presented at regional, state and national conferences.

Karen is an occupational therapist with CESA 6. She has worked with special education students with all types of disabilities. She attended the University of Alabama in Birmingham and graduated with a BS in Occupational Therapy. She has also attended the University of WI at Oshkosh and graduated from the University of WI ­Madison with an MS in Therapeutic Science. She has presented at numerous regional, state, and national conferences, and also is a guest lecturer and clinical instructor for classes in occupational therapy and education for institutions of higher education in Wisconsin. She is a member of WOTA & AOTA and is also certified in sensory integration. She has worked as a school based OT for over twenty years and has been a WATI consultant since 1998. Her interest in assistive technology has grown out of her interest in helping others to be independent.

Patti received her degree in occupational therapy from UW-Madison and holds a Masters degree in Assistive Technology from George Mason University. She has been a RESNA certified ATP since 1998. Patti has been involved in the field of assistive technology for 20 years, working in a variety of settings including the schools, rehab hospitals, private practice and as a sales representative for several assistive technology companies. She has presented at regional, state and national conference and has taught at Wayne County Community College and George Mason University. Patti's areas of interest are computer access, augmentative communication, and environmental control.

Marcia has been working with the WATI project for over 10 years as CESA 9’s regional consultant. She adds 14 years of experience as an OT in the school setting, including 10 years of practice in a full inclusion model school. In addition to her AT duties, Marcia coordinated a state TEACH grant known as PALSS, Project to Achieve Increased Literacy for Struggling Students. Her main focus in Assistive Technology has been in AT supports in the inclusion environment, the writing process and for students in the severe/profound population.

In July 2003, Kim Swenson became the Assistive Technology Consultant for CESA 11. For the past seventeen years she was a teacher of secondary students with severe cognitive disabilities. In June of 2003 she completed her masters in adaptive education from St. Norbert College in DePere. She also serves as CESA 11's Autism Coordinator, Special Education Consultant and RSN Director.

Laura is a newcomer to WATI in 2007. She is the Autism Specialist at CESA 12 where she also provides program support services in the areas of Traumatic Brain Injury, Gifted and Talented and Assistive Technology. A special education teacher licensed in E/BD, Laura has 15 years of experience teaching students with autism and other disabilities in a variety of settings. She is a nationally certified therapeutic horseback riding instructor with a strong interest in animal assisted therapy.