Maria Sargent has been active for 30+ years in general education, special education, behavior intervention, brain research, and arts intervention. A full professor at Ashland University in Ashland, Ohio, the presenter is known for cross-disciplinary work training professionals in medicine, psychology, the arts, and the legal sector, in addition to the expected audience of educators. Her work history has also spanned a wide variety of ages and populations (e.g., Behavioral Intervention Coordinator/Cuyahoga County Board of Mental Health; Research Coordinator/Akron Children’s Hospital’s Family Child Learning Center; Infant-Toddler Program Coordinator/Kent State University and Child Development Center; Director of the Behavior and Parenting Resource Center/multiple state, national, and international locations; Behavior Intervention and Curriculum Design Consultant /birth through grade 12). 

Previous projects include multiple, multi-million dollar grants designed to enhance educational and behavioral outcomes for children at risk and work with various state departments (Education and Mental Health) to develop guidelines for professionals wishing to improve programs for students and their families. She has also served as a consultant for numerous dance intervention programs including Reach Out and Dance and Rosie O’Donnell’s original Broadway Kids program in New York. She continues to serve the community as board president of ArtSparks (www.artsparksdance.org), a non-profit dance intervention program operating in many school districts, programs, and agencies across northeast Ohio. 

Her latest project involves development of a conceptual planning framework designed to assist professionals in responding to the diverse learning patterns of students as well as embed functional flexibility so they are able to exhibit exceptional teaching practice regardless of the demands or unexpected requirements of the current teaching environment.