Special Education Services

                    Welcome the Resource Room page! 

     My name is Paul Nicolaides and I am the Special Education Teacher for sixth and seventh grades at Bennett Middle School. 

     This my 25th year as a Special Education teacher.  Including twenty years in San Antonio, Austin and Corpus Christi, Texas and five years now at Bennett Middle School.  I graduated from the University of Valley Forge in Phoenixville, Pa. with a B.S. degree. After working a couple of years in my home town at Gorham, (Maine)  High School as a Special Education Para-Professional I went back to school.   After earning a Master's Degree in Education from Johnson (Vermont) State College  in 1985 I spent several years in Berkshire County (Massachusetts) with handicapped adults and four years at a residential school for special needs children.  Again I returned to the classroom to earn my Teacher Certification from the University of Texas: San Antonio in 1991.  Along the way having accumulated additional credits in education from the University of Southern Maine,  University of St. Thomas (Houston,Tx.) and the University of Massachusetts: Boston. 

     The Resource Room is here for students with a variety of specific learning disabilities and or handicapping conditions.  We focus on Individual Education Plans (IEPs).  Working with families, teachers and support staff which include:  Speech Therapist, Occupational Therapist, Physical Therapist, Family Support Therapist, Psychological Therapist and other specialist in Autism, Auditory Specialist and  a Brain Stem team of professionals. 

     We are here to help students build skills in reading, writing and  mathematics and to achieve social-emotional well being.  We have an inclusion model, we want our students to be in the general education environment as much as possible.  To make this happen we utilize a team of para-professionals who work in the classroom helping the student gain access to instruction.