Heather Hayworth

My name is Heather Hayworth and I am so excited to be starting this year as the High School Life Skills teacher at Middlefork!

I have been a speech-language pathologist for 13 years and recently decided to return to school to become certified as a special education teacher.  I live in Champaign with my husband, Joe, our nine-year-old son, Henry, our three-year-old daughter Rosie, and our cat Rolo. When I’m not at school, I like to craft, read, and spend time with my friends and family.

I am incredibly excited (and a little nervous!) to start a new journey, but having worked with most of the students in the Life Skills classroom in past years, I know we will accomplish some amazing things this year! We will be tackling important skills including: functional reading and math, social studies and science, self-care skills, leisure skills, domestic skills, community/job skills, and social/relationship skills.

As a former speech-language pathologist, one of my biggest passions is understanding the intersections of communication, neurodivergence, trauma, and the neurobiological bases of behavior. My biggest goal is to create a learning environment where my students feel loved and affirmed while participating in meaningful learning opportunities that will ultimately improve their long-term life outcomes.

As your student's caregiver, you are an important part of their educational team! If you have any questions, concerns, or suggestions throughout the school year, please don't hesitate to get in touch! My contact information is listed below, and I will send out periodic updates as well.

I have also listed a few resources that I have found incredibly useful over the years. I will try to add to these lists as the year goes on.

I look forward to teaching, learning, and making progress alongside your students this year!

Contact Me

• Uniquely Human: The Podcast expands the conversation on autism and neurodiversity by amplifying the voices of autistic individuals and thought leaders in providing insightful, cutting-edge and practical information about the autistic experience. Hosted by Barry Prizant and Dave Finch. 
  
  
• Two Sides of the Spectrum is a twice-monthly podcast where host, occupational therapist Meg Proctor, and her guests explore research, amplify autistic voices, and change the way we think about autism in life and professional therapy practice.
  
  
• Parenting After Trauma hosted by social worker, Robyn Gobbel.  Each episode, Robyn and guests translate the complex science of the Relational Neurosciences (that’s just fancy talk for the parts of the brain that keep us in connection with ourselves and everyone else) for helpers, healers, educators, and parents and make it practical, useful, ultimately- life changing.