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Accessible Education Squad, LLC.
Accessible Education Squad, LLC.
The spark that became Accessible Education Squad began with a conversation, Doena was having with a co-worker in 2022 about the need for medical based providers to take implicit bias courses to maintain their Michigan licensure and how their school district should offer training on disability and neurotype biases. This began the idea of starting a consulting and continuing education company for school based health professionals.
After research on the process and cost of becoming an official continuing education provider, Doena was a bit discouraged as financially it was not currently feasible.
In late 2022, Doena saw a call for proposals for the Autism in Black 3rd Annual Virtual Conference. She developed the workshop The Talk that was accepted and she it presented in April 2023.
Developing The Talk, refueled her desire to share over 10 years worth of experience as a school based speech-language pathologist, a lifetime of being neurodivergent, many years of parenting neurodivergent twins, and providing accessible group fitness classes. Accessible Education Squad was incorporated in Michigan in April 2023.
[A black and white photo of Doena, a Black woman with locs wearing cat-eyed glasses frames.]
Doena Gaines-Moore, is a neurodivergent speech-language pathologist and parent of Autistic adult twins. With over 10 years experience working in public and charter schools evaluating, designing educational plans, and providing speech-language therapy to students from Preschool thru 12th grade.
Doena was diagnosed as dyslexic and dysgraphic in her junior year of high school. After graduation in 1989, Doena went on to attend Marygrove College and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree with a major in Business and minor in English Literature. Next she worked for the City of Detroit as a Public Housing Aide, Purchases Agent, and Governmental Analyst. In her role as an analyst, Doena was assigned to the Detroit Water and Sewage Department's financial and supply chain information systems implementation team, where she served as co-chair person of the Communications and Training Team. As part of the team she assisted in developing the train the trainer program for the new system and conducted group and individual trainings for staff and administration. In 2002, Doena left the City of Detroit to pursue other opportunities.
In 2003, after giving birth to twins, Doena took time off from the professional world to stay at home with her children. In 2008, when her twins were preparing to enter kindergarten, Doena decided to obtain a degree in Speech-Language Pathology. She entered Wayne State University's Post-Bachelorette Communications Disorders program in the Fall of 2008 and was accepted into their Speech-Language graduate studies program the following Spring. She graduated in May 2011.
In 2023 Doena was identified as Autistic.
In 2018 obtained her first group fitness instructor's license, by attending a Zumba Basic Training. She is currently licensed to teach Zumba, Zumba Gold (2020), Pound (2019), and Chair One Fitness (2020). In 2020, she attended a 200 hour yoga instructor training and became a registered 200-hour yoga instructor. Doena has taught fitness and yoga formats in community centers, virtually, and for corporate and community events. Click the Detroit Fitness Studio link to find current class schedules or to schedule her for an event.
atypically Normal Blog features Doena's musing and thoughts on a variety of topics that regarding neurodiversity, communication, language and speech development, body neutrality/positivity, race, gender, and sexuality and how intersectionality impacts them.
Doena believes that all knowledge is worth pursuing, but that it is also import to chose when or if to use it.
You can follow Doena on:
Facebook Atypically Normal: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100091747389903
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/atyp.icallynormal/
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