Who We Are
The Easterseals Arkansas Outreach Program and Technology Services (esOPTS), in partnership with the Arkansas Department of Education – Division of Elementary and Secondary Education’s Special Education Unit is committed to improving educational results for students with disabilities. Click here to learn more about the esOPTS team of consultants.
Services We Provide
Through capacity-building efforts, the esOPTS consultants work with teams statewide by providing professional learning opportunities, mentoring, onsite or remote consultation, and coaching. In addition to addressing student-specific needs through the CIRCUIT referral process, they also provide targeted assistance to districts interested in developing sustainable programs for all students. This targeted assistance focuses on the use of high leverage practices through continuous cycles of improvement. The esOPTS website offers a statewide short term loan program which enables districts to trial a variety of assistive technologies, evaluations, and curricula. Explore our full range of services by clicking the buttons below.
Regional Consultant Map
Region 1 – NWA, Ozark (Dalene Magsam)
Region 2 – North Central, NE (Jessica Barnett)
Region 3 – Guy Fenter, Dequeen/Mena (Caryn Allison)
Region 4 – Arch Ford (Amy Orman) (Joanna Blocker-Brain Injury Specialist)
Region 5 – Wilbur Mills, Pulaski (Bethany Splawn)
Region 6 – Crowley’s Ridge, Great Rivers (Bethany Compton)
Region 7 – Dawson, SW (Vashanti Williams)
Region 8 – SC, AR River (Gretchen Hicks)
Region 9 – SE (Nancy Dunn)
Originally we went into the implementation of PECS with vary wary outcomes for success as functional language mode in the deaf-education environment, however the experience of using PECS became the bridge original goal of understanding and use of ASL to facilitate functional communication and the student’s active-meanignful participation the educational environment.
I have been a SpED Teacher for 7 now, and the PD [Core Tools] that your team led about classroom set up/ zoning areas was 100% the most useful and helpful PD I have EVER attended. I benefited GREATLY from what we learned during our few hours together.
The training [Core Tools] was amazing yesterday. I wish all my areas LEAS, special education staff, and private related service providers in Arch Ford Cooperative area could here the training. Great information!!!!!
[Coach Training] gives an easy way to view different aspects of the classroom to help focus on areas of improvement one at a time instead of overwhelming teachers/staff.
The videos and the tools we were given during this training [coach training] are exactly what we needed to assist our current teacher, but not just the SPED teachers. When a teacher is struggling with something, I can send her the video that pretains to she is dealing with. Then we will meet and discuss how to proceed.
The best part [of Coach Training] is the resources that help with examples and the explanation and videos.
This was a GREAT PD! We need more like this. These ladies were awesome and very knowledgeable.
[Coach Training is a] wonderful training and useful tools to use with my team!
PECS Level 1 Training (2 days)
October 17 @ 8:00 am - October 18 @ 4:00 pm CDTSTAR Workshop: In Person or Virtual
October 22 @ 8:30 am - October 23 @ 3:30 pm CDT