Our founder, Dr. Dawn Tarasyuk, was in special education for over 17 years and found the lack of targeted professional development for special education teachers a disappointment. She also found that general education teachers struggled with understanding the vertical articulation of standards for their students with special needs. During her tenure as a special education teacher, administrator, and county supervisor, she discovered the challenges associated with often dichotomous relationships between schools and parents. She wanted to assist families in advocating for their special needs child, along with assisting schools in improving their special population outcomes. She wanted schools to be the best they could be to maximize student achievement.
She created SECA to promote effectiveness within curriculum and special education. Dr. Tarasyuk wanted to focus on the specific needs within special education for all stakeholders: parents, teachers, administrators, but most of all, students. With staggering attrition rates in special education, severe discrepancies in graduation rates, and consistent stagnant growth for students with special needs, she set out to create a new company to focus on specific areas of need for all stakeholders of an IEP team.
Today, SECA has become a national company promoting parent advocacy in a collaborative team environment, targeted professional development for special education teachers, and assisting homeschool parents who struggle with curriculum planning. Our team works with districts, charter schools, private schools, microschools, and homeschools across the country to bring the best professional development we can.
Dr. Tarasyuk earned her Bachelor's Degree from Western Illinois University in Business Administration, a Master's Degree in Special Education from Arizona State University, a Master's Degree from University of Phoenix in Educational Administration, and a Doctorate in Organizational Leadership-Special Education from Grand Canyon University.
Dr. Dawn Tarasyuk travels across the globe speaking on current shifts and trends in special education. Her publications include the SECA Model of special education curriculum which shifts curriculum planning for special education, trends in special education, maximizing efficacy in special education, and motivation in developing the best special education programs possible.
Dr. Dawn Tarasyuk presents the new 3 step model of curriculum planning. The beauty of special education is the ability to try different things to work for individual students and to maximize learning. In this presentation, Dr. Dawn Tarasyuk takes participants on a journey to change thinking about curriculum, defining the distinctions between general and special education curriculum and resources, and how to build a program in special education curriculum that teachers love!
Special Education Departments love what they do and yearn for the "A-Ha" moments from our students. However, so often, compliance has become such a foundation to our practice, that we can mitigate the beauty of instructional practice in our field. Dr. Dawn will help participants journey back into the WOW of special education and assist participants in bringing vision back to the special education department.
With special education attrition rates at an all time high, recruitment a constant challenge and teacher efficacy as the number one contributor to student outcomes (AYP, etc), Dr. Dawn will take participants on a journey to bring the love of special education back to your departments. In this presentation, she discusses the current trends in special education teacher shortages, how to help mitigate them, and integrate the maximization of teacher efficacy back into special education.
Tarasyuk, D. (2023). Special Education Curriculum: A Qualitative Descriptive Exploration of Content, Skills, and Knowledge (Doctoral dissertation, Grand Canyon University).
Tarasyuk, D. (2025). Special Education Curriculum and Assessment: The SECA Model (Amazon, 2025) .
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DISCLAIMER: SECA, LLC is not a law firm and does NOT provide legal interpretation or legal advice. All Advocacy, Coaching and Consulting is based on our experience and given solely for information purposes. We DO NOT forecast or guarantee outcomes. You are free to act on the information or advice given at your own will, SECA, LLC. will not be held responsible for any adverse events as a result of your decisions. All information given on the website and in the course of providing services is complete and correct to the best of our knowledge and capabilities at the time provided.