Meet Cecilia Cruse, MiEN’s Special Needs Consultant
Students with disabilities make up nearly 15 percent of the K-12 student population, and supporting these students is a valuable endeavor for schools and districts. As this percentage continues to increase, there has been a steadily rising demand for functional and exciting learning spaces for students with special needs.
Here at MiEN Company, we’ve hired Cecilia Cruse, OTR/L, as a special needs consultant to help us meet the growing need to create diverse learning environments for students with special needs. Cecilia will support MiEN by sharing helpful ideas and resources to design products and learning spaces that are flexible and adaptable to a wide range of learning and mobility needs. She will also engage with other industry professionals through professional development programs, conference presentations, and other endeavors.
Cecilia Cruse, OTR/L
Cecilia is an experienced occupational therapist and consultant with a background as a trainer, consultant, and service provider in several school systems. She holds a bachelor of health science degree in Occupational Therapy from the University of Florida and a master’s degree in Education from Georgia State University.
In her work, Cecilia has made an emphasis on supporting students with differing sensory needs, lecturing nationwide on practical sensory solutions for educators and therapists. As an advocate for sensory-friendly design, Cecilia understands the nuance of different furniture, color and pattern, and lighting choices when it comes to creating spaces for students with varying sensory needs. In partnership with MiEN, she hopes to guide the creation and redesign of educational environments to support the needs of neurodiverse learners.
Innovative Design
Some of Cecilia’s favorite MiEN products include the GROW Series, the KIT Children’s Stool, and FLEX Floor Slices. For students who need the additional sensory input, the GROW bench, nest, and seat pads may help provide a sensory rich seating experience. KIT stool enables a student to move while sitting in a stationary position, which may be beneficial to students who need movement to maintain focus. Finally, FLEX floor slices can be used to help create safe spatial boundary definition, making flexible learning more accessible.
Cecilia cares deeply about creating educational spaces where students with special needs can feel comfortable and succeed. As a proponent of universal design learning, she believes that solutions designed for the margins become good for the masses––that is to say that even small changes made to improve one student’s learning experience have a positive effect on the learning experience for all.
Her motto? “We’re starting an inclusion revolution,” says Cecilia. “We can’t do everything, but we can do something.”
We’re excited to have Cecilia Cruse join the MiEN team and help us lead the movement towards more inclusive learning spaces for all!
Dr. Christina Counts, ALEP, VP of Education for MiEN Environments, is a proven leader with a successful background in transforming learning spaces into modern engaging learning environments. Dr. Counts has worked in education for over 17 years with experience as a classroom teacher, district instructional leader, school administrator, and digital and innovative learning designer. In her most recent position, Christina leads a team of professionals that support schools making the transition to a flexible, collaborative, & student-centered learning space. She holds a doctorate in K-12 Educational Leadership, National Board-certified, and Google & Apple certified. Dr. Counts envisions a learning space in which educators are empowered to transform education through design, technology and innovative instructional pedagogy to create learners ready for any future!