We have an evaluation team available to provide on-site or virtual evaluations by appointment. Our Evaluation Team members are Leah Totten, a Speech Language Pathologist, and Catherine Steadman, an Early Childhood Education Specialist. Using a combination of parent report, observation, and standardized assessment, they will determine whether or not your child is eligible for our free services and will guide you into the next steps of receiving those services from the rest of our team.

Our Early Intervention program provides services and supports to eligible children ages birth to 3. The program also helps families develop the skills they need to help their children learn and grow. Services are delivered through a parent coaching model at home or in other caregiving settings. Read more about our Early Intervention program.

Our Early Childhood Special Education program offers special education services to children ages 3 to 5 who are found eligible through our referral and evaluation process. Services include specially designed instruction and related services such as physical, occupational or speech and language therapy. These services are often provided at community preschools, child care facilities or designated sites. Read more about our Early Childhood Special Education program.

Matt Doyle, Columbia Service Center Administrator, Early Intervention and Early Childhood Special Education (EI/ECSE) Coordinator

503-366-4124

Matt oversees the service center operations and coordinates the Early Intervention and Early Childhood Special Education (EI/ECSE) program in Columbia County. Before becoming an administrator in the program, he worked as the director of academic programs for the St. Helens School District. Matt and his family love backpacking, biking, snow sports, and are active with their local church.

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Laura Weaver, Early Intervention and Early Childhood Special Education (EI/ECSE) Administrative Assistant

503-366-4105

Laura joined NWRESD in 2020 and is a site-based EI/ECSE administrative assistant. Laura comes to our agency with over 25 years of project management and administrative experience. Laura’s role entails meeting and greeting families, supporting all EI/ECSE staff and supervisors in a variety of job functions, including maintaining student records, completing data entry, generating reports and distributing student files. Laura enjoys interacting with our NWRESD families and staff and assisting them as needed.

Mary Dorry, Early Childhood Education Specialist

503-366-4117

Mary is an early childhood special education teacher in Columbia County. She is an Oregonian and lives in Columbia County. She received her bachelor's degree in elementary education and later completed  an endorsement in Early Intervention and Early Childhood Special Education. She holds a master's degree in education from Portland State University.  Her 30-year teaching career includes time working in Head Start and kindergarten classrooms as well as time as a substitute teacher while her children were young. Outside of teaching, Mary enjoys camping, beach trips, gardening, and making memories with her family and friends.

 

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Sheri Johnson, Early Childhood Education Specialist

503-366-4101

Growing up with a parent who lived with multiple sclerosis and having a close family member with invisible disabilities led Sheri to this work four years ago. Sheri became an early childhood special education teacher while she worked in community preschools such as Head Start and Preschool Promise in St. Helens. She also has a master's degree in early intervention from the University of Oregon. Sheri loves going for long drives on the weekends with her daughter, belly dancing, and identifying birds.

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Roza Pachciarz, Early Childhood Education Specialist

503-366-4115

Roza is an early childhood special education teacher in Columbia County who provides consultative services to families and community providers. She has a master's degree in education and 20 years of experience working with students in both early childhood and secondary education. She is an Oregon native who loves spending time with her family and friends and taking peaceful getaways throughout the Pacific Northwest.

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Rhonda Stecker-Cameron, Early Childhood Education Specialist

503-366-4101

Rhonda comes to NWRESD from Warren Elementary where she taught and provided school counseling.  She has a master's degree in education and 25 years of experience. She lives in the community and enjoys gardening, baking and sunshine. She loves supporting families to help their children be successful.

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JoLea Ulschmid, Early Childhood Education Specialist

503-366-4126

JoLea has worked in Columbia County Early Intervention since 2017 and has 25 years of experience in Early Intervention and Early Childhood Special Education. She has a master's degree from Portland State University in Early Intervention / Early Childhood Special Education. JoLea grew up on a farm in rural Minnesota and moved to the West Coast as a teenager. She enjoys spending time with her two “spicy” teenagers, cooking Mediterranean meals, and backpacking in remote areas. She loves new adventures!

Catherine Steadman, Early Childhood Education Specialist

503-366-4137

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Catherine "Cat" has worked in Columbia County Early Intervention as a member of the evaluation team for eight years and with children with special needs for 18 years. She has a master's degree in special education with an endorsement in Early Intervention/Early Childhood and a bachelor's degree in speech and hearing sciences from Portland State University.  She also has a bachelor's degree in political science from Reed College. Cat is a Portland native and her favorite people are her teenage daughter and her husband. She enjoys coffee, autumn and listening to true crime audiobooks.

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Leah Totten, Speech-Language Pathologist

503-366-4130

Leah is a speech-language pathologist who works on the Columbia County evaluation team. She has a master’s degree in communication disorders, is a licensed speech-language pathologist in Oregon and California, and has nearly 14 years of experience in her field. Her clinical interests include autism and neurodiversity. Outside of work, she likes to go camping, hiking and swimming.

Lita Blodgett, Instructional Assistant

Lita joined NWRESD as an instructional assistant in September of 2021. She has always wanted to work with kids. She taught swimming lessons for five years before starting at NWRESD. Lita spends most of her time in the community preschools supporting children. When she is not working, she likes to go fishing, camping, swimming, and spending time with her dog, Lou.

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Renee Finley, Instructional Assistant

Renee started as a substitute for Head Start in Rainier and transitioned into her role as an instructional assistant for NWRESD 11 years ago after her daughter went through our program. Renee enjoys camping and fishing with her family and is a Columbia County resident.

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Sandra Mann, Instructional Assistant

Sandra was hired in November of 2021 as an instructional assistant working in the community and in the SAIL classroom. Working with kids has always been a dream of hers, but when she’s not working, Sandra loves gardening, camping and hanging out with her chickens.

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Pamela Pumphrey, Instructional Assistant

Pam became interested in working with young children when she started volunteering at Head Start LCC Early Childhood Program and studied special education. She started with NWRESD 11 years ago when her oldest son went through our speech therapy and early childhood programs. Later, her younger son went through our preschool program. Pam enjoys gardening, photography, crafting, camping, and beach trips with her family.

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Amy Swan, Instructional Assistant

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Amy recently joined our team of instructional assistants and brings to NWRESD five years of experience working in the mental-health field. She hopes to use her bilingual (Spanish) skills in our community and schools. When not working, Amy enjoys camping with her family, friends and two mini-Aussies.

Monica Clark, Physical Therapist

Monica is a physical therapist serving children in the Early Intervention and Early Childhood Special Education programs in Columbia County. She lives on a farm with many critters, enjoys the outdoors and cooking and learning about new things. She received her bachelor's degree from Pepperdine University and her master's degree in physical therapy from Western University of Health Sciences. Monica has been practicing the art of pediatric physical therapy for over 25 years.

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Julia Mace, Occupational Therapist

503-366-4115

Julia is an Occupational Therapist serving Columbia County in both the Early Intervention and Early Childhood Special Education programs. She is a graduate of Pacific University in Forest Grove, Oregon. She earned a master's degree in occupational therapy from Florida International University. In 2015, she joined NWRESD to pursue her passion of working with children and families. She loves being in nature year-round whether she’s walking her dog, camping, skiing, or hiking.

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Amy Reilley, Occupational Therapist

Amy has been an occupational therapist with NWRESD for five years. She enjoys working with and supporting our students with sensory-processing skills, feeding and other adaptive/self-care activities, and developing fine motor and gross motor skills. She loves rafting and camping with her family and friends and spending time in her garden.

Colleen Nolan, School Psychologist

Colleen is the school psychologist/behavior specialist serving Columbia and Clatsop counties. She supports children, families, and Individualized Family Service Plan (IFSP) teams in understanding and managing misguided and dangerous behaviors for children in preschool, homes and day cares. She also provides parent coaching, trainings to parents and community teachers and consultation services.  Colleen has been with the ESD for 13 years and loves it. When she is not at work, Colleen is playing tennis, basketball or ultimate frisbee; snuggling with her cats, Mr. Thumbs and Girl; or gardening in her backyard. She is an aunt to several children from newborn to college age. 

Susan Dorofey, Speech-Language Pathologist

503-366-4129

Susan has been part of the NWRESD team in Columbia County for five years, working with children ages 2 to 5 years. She has a master's degree in speech and language pathology from Indiana University of Pennsylvania and has worked in the field for over 25 years. Currently, she works with children at home, in the community or at preschool.  Outside of work, she enjoys traveling, camping and spending time with her grandchildren.

Lauren Haley, Speech-Language Pathologist

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Lauren is a speech-language pathologist serving the northern part of Columbia County as well as Vernonia. She has a master’s degree in communication disorders from West Chester University of Pennsylvania. She has almost 11 years of experience working as an speech-language pathologist in Pennsylvania, Texas and now Oregon. Outside of work, she enjoys traveling, seeing live music and cooking.

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Lara Leedom, Speech-Language Pathologist

Lara is a state-licensed and nationally certified speech-language pathologist who provides speech therapy services to Early Intervention (birth to 3 years old) students and their families. She has seven years of pediatric speech-language pathology experience, including over two years evaluating and treating inpatient and outpatient communication and swallowing disorders at Doernbecher Children’s Hospital. Her interest in speech therapy came originally from learning to correct her own lisp in kindergarten and later from learning phonetic transcription. In her free time, she loves spending time around animals, making art, cooking and traveling with her husband.

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Morgan Weinstein, Speech-Language Pathologist

503-366-414

Morgan is a licensed speech-language pathologist and new member of the NWRESD team. She joined in August 2021. Originally from Pennsylvania, Morgan received a master’s degree in speech, language and hearing science from Temple University. She brings four years of experience in education-based speech-language therapy with specific interests in early language development, motor speech disorders and AAC (augmentative and alternative communication).

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Lori Dyer, Instructional Coach

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Lori is an instructional coach and speech-language pathologist. A native Oregonian, she received her bachelor's and master's degrees from the University of Oregon before moving to Clatsop County in 2008. She joined NWRESD in 2010, providing speech and language services for children and families in the EI/ECSE program for 11 years before transitioning to the instructional coach position. She is now supporting NWRESD staff in Columbia County and provides occasional assistance in Clatsop County. In her spare time, she enjoys reading, long walks on the beach with her dog, and catching up on the latest TV series.