Florida Atlantic University

Mariann Primus, Martin County
SeaWind Elementary School
CARD Staff: Cathy Allore

Mariann Primus was born and raised in Florida. She spent her childhood on the gulf coast then went to college at University of Central Florida, where in 1996, she received her Bachelor of Science in Special Education. She met her husband in Orlando and they have two children. They moved to Martin County in 2002. She began her teaching career in Orlando, where she taught in a “center” school for children with severe developmental delays or IND. She truly enjoyed this part of her teaching career as it was both challenging and rewarding. When her family first moved to Martin County she worked as program director at a group home for children and adults with a variety of disabilities. Although this was also a rewarding path, she missed being in the classroom so she returned to teaching in 2004. In 2005, she had the opportunity to teach in a school with a unit for children with ASD. Mariann has continued to teach students with ASD and enjoyed learning from them and seeing their daily growth in both academic and social areas.

SeaWind Elementary now has four self-contained classrooms for students with ASD, grades Kindergarten through fifth. The teachers follow a TEACH based program, giving their students the opportunity to both work in large and small group settings, one-one and with independent centers. They use a variety of curriculum, to include ReadWell, Number Worlds as well as the mainstream curriculum and self-made supplemental materials to help develop independent work skills.

She finds that even after going on seven years of teaching with this population, the students’ needs and strengths vary so much that every year brings new challenges to her as a teacher in their academic, social, and behavioral areas. She enjoys meeting these challenges and seeing the students, at all levels and abilities, become successful in all areas of their lives.