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Our Staff

Our staff members are based at five different locations around the state:

• Wenatchee (North Central Educational Service District)
• Renton (Puget Sound Educational Service District)
• Ellensburg (Central Washington University)
• Bellingham 
• Cheney

We also employ consultants to address children’s and families’ needs and to conduct trainings.

To request consultation or technical assistance/training, call us at our toll-free number: 
1-800-572-7000 or email us:  wsds@psesd.org  

Or, you can contact any of our staff.

Wenatchee (North Central ESD Staff)

Terri Thurston 

Project Director 

Coordinator of Blind/VI Resources

North Central ESD
430 Olds Station Road
Wenatchee, WA 98801

509-665-2619 (phone)
509-662-9027 (fax)
territ@ncesd.org

Terri Thurston serves as executive director of WSDS, with North Central ESD the fiscal agent for the project. She acts as spokesperson for WSDS, facilitates project activities, develops contractual agreements with cooperating agencies, and seeks resources for future activities. Terri has more than 30 years experience as a special education teacher, speech/language pathologist, consultant and administrator in urban, suburban, and rural school districts and agencies.

In addition to directing WSDS, Terri Thurston coordinates statewide activities that enhance services for children and youths who are blind or visually impaired. She supervises a group of consulting teachers of the visually impaired who provide technical assistance to school districts and families and assist in the areas of child assessment, IEP development, program planning, and training school district personnel regarding the needs of children with visual impairment.

Jackie Messer provides program support for WSDS from her base in Wenatchee. She has been with North Central ESD in the media department since 1996, and joined WSDS in September 2004.

 

Renton (Puget Sound ESD Staff)

Nancy Hatfield has worked with WSDS since 1992 to enhance statewide capacity to meet the needs of children and young adults with sensory disabilities. She co-directs the deaf-blind project and coordinates early childhood activities, as well as functioning as administrative director of WSDS staff and grants based at Puget Sound ESD. Nancy holds a B.A. in Speech Pathology/ Audiology and a M.S. and Ph.D. in Education and Human Development.

Nancy's prior work experience includes early intervention services for families with infants and toddlers who are deaf, hard of hearing, and deaf-blind. She wrote grants for and directed Project SIT-UPS (Sensory Impairment Training to Upgrade Professionals' Skills) and the Shared Reading Video Outreach Project. Other training projects include VIISA (training in early childhood vision impairment) and ECHO (Early Childhood Hearing Outreach to Early Head Start programs), as well as early intervention training for the Washington State Department of Health and the Office of Deaf and Hard of Hearing Services.

 

Kathee Scoggin co-directs the federally-funded deaf-blind project.  In addition to providing child-specific technical assistance and consultation to families and school and agency teams herself, she coordinates and supervises our deaf-blind project partners in their work with families and educators around the state.  Kathee is a sought-after trainer on topics relating to children with multiple disabilities including deaf-blindness both in state and nationally.  She holds a B.A. in Deaf Education and M.Ed. in Special Education with an emphasis on sensory disabilities.  Kathee has 30+ years experience as a teacher, assessment specialist, principal, and educational consultant with children (birth to 21) with hearing loss and deaf-blindness.

 

Katie Humes
Education and Distance Learning Consultant

2620 N. Harbor Loop, #11
Bellingham, WA 98225

360-647-1647 (phone)
khumes@psesd.org

 

Katie Humes serves as Education and Distance Learning Consultant at WSDS, where one of her unique roles is to develop digital media for educational trainings and our website. Since 1993, she has co-produced videos that incorporate research-based practices (“Looking For Language: Parents Show the Way,” and “Actions Speak Louder than Words.”) Katie also provides technical support to teams and families of young children and youths who are deaf/hard of hearing and deaf-blind, and provides mentoring for graduates of SKI-HI Curriculum training.

A resident of Bellingham, Katie holds a B.A. in Child and Cognitive Development, a M.Ed. in Curriculum Development, and a degree in sign language interpreting. Her experience includes early support to families of infants and toddlers who are deaf/hard of hearing, technical assistance to teams with children who have a combined vision and hearing loss, and sign language interpretation for Deaf-Blind employees at the Seattle Lighthouse for the Blind.

 

Sandy Honeycutt
Program Coordinator

Puget Sound ESD
800 Oakesdale Ave. S.W.
Renton, WA 98057

800-572-7000 V/TTY
425-917-7827 V/TTY
425-917-7838 (fax)
shoneycutt@psesd.org

Sandy coordinates functions for WSDS program activities and staff based at our multiple locations, and manages support for our WSDS consultants and project partners. She holds a B.A. degree with coursework in audiology and speech therapy. She has worked with WSDS for more than 15 years. Many families and educators are familiar with her work in connection with Washington State Services for Children with Deaf-Blindness. Sandy's previous experience includes working for the Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory in Portland, Oregon.

 

Irene Fournier has been right-hand woman in WSDS since 1994, with a special focus on supporting infant/toddler activities including regional and statewide training projects. She was instrumental in establishing and managing our specialized birth-to-three lending library. Irene spends much of her time responding to the many requests we receive for information and assistance via our toll-free line and email.

 

Mikaela O'Brien
WSDS Program Support
Puget Sound ESD
800 Oakesdale Ave. S.W.
Renton, WA 98057

800-572-7000 V/TTY
425-917-7830 V/TTY
425-917-7838 (fax)
mobrien@psesd.org

Mikaela O’Brien joined WSDS in December of 2008 to provide program support for Kathee Scoggin, Co-Director of the Deaf-Blind Project, in Cheney, and the WSDS group at Puget Sound ESD.  She has her Bachelor’s Degree in Project Management from DeVry University and 10 years of experience in program support, customer service, computer support, and technical management.

 

Ellensburg (Central Washington University Staff)

Carol Carrothers provides technical assistance to school districts and families with deaf and hard-of-hearing children throughout Washington.  She assists in the areas of child assessment, IEP development, program planning and training school district staff on the needs of children with hearing loss.  After earning a B.A. in Special Education and a M.S. in Deaf Education, Carol taught all ages from preschool to university level for over 25 years.  She also is a certified sign language interpreter. 

Carol serves on the State Educational Interpreters' Council, which works to support the educational interpreting needs of children with hearing loss.

 

Christy Camarata
Program Coordinator
Central Washington University
400 East University Way
Ellensburg, WA 98926-7409

509-963-1670 V/TTY
509-963-1608 (fax)
camaratc@cwu.edu

Christy Camarata is an assistant to Carol Carrothers. In addition, she is a certified sign language interpreter and a TypeWell transcriber.  She has been interpreting for 17 years and has experience in both the educational and community setting.  She came to WSDS in 2009.