Accident Can’t Derail Teaching Dream

With the help of a computer software program, Salyer can sit in her home in Dade City and continue the class work that will allow her to become a special education teacher after working for years as an instructional assistant.

Her classmates, gathered on the other side of Pasco County in a portable classroom at Hudson High School, see and hear her on a laptop computer screen.

She sees and hears them.

Mostly, it works.

“Sometimes the subtlety of what’s going on in the room, you miss,” said Dawn Hudak-Puckhaber, a classmate who played a key role in making sure Salyer remained in class after the accident.

It also doesn’t help when the Internet connection fails. Then they go to Plan B. Salyer calls in and they put her on speaker phone, a manageable but less desirable alternative.

“I get frustrated. They get frustrated,” Salyer said. “We just laugh it off.”

Read it all here.

Published on August 05, 2008

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