Kimberly Sullivent

Kimberly Sullivent

Diagnostician


Lubbock Independent School District


I thought about the whole reason I chose this career path to begin with and moved forward each day with my purpose and reason in mind.

Milestones

My road in life took a while to figure out.
Began working as a secretary in the special education office at Lubbock ISD the month after I graduated high school.
Started working as the secretary in the Early Childhood Intervention office for 15 years and started college at year 13.
At year 15 with the Early Childhood Intervention Program, I began working as a support facilitator and continued doing that for two more years while finishing my Bachelor's at Wayland Baptist Universi
I then began teaching 3rd grade at Harwell Elementary which is part of Lubbock ISD. I taught for the next five years and began graduate school to obtain my educational diagnostician certificate.
After obtaining my diagnostician's certificate I was hired as such with Lubbock ISD and have been doing that ever since. I have now worked with LISD for going on 30 years as my journey continues.
Keep following my journey

Career

Diagnostician

I evaluate students to see if they meet the criteria for special education eligibilities

Career Roadmap

Roadmap
My work combines:
My work combines:
Education
Business
Helping People

Day to Day

My days at work are different every day. One day I may be evaluating a student and analyzing the data to determine eligibility and the best supports and services that would benefit that student. I may be holding IEP meetings one right after the other and completing all the paperwork that goes with those meetings. I may be attending training. I may be doing a combination of all of these things during one single day.

Advice for Getting Started

Here's the first step for professionals

Have teaching experience and ask to do the internship part of this degree with the diagnostician at the school you already teach in. This is much easier to manage and will likely lead to a strong recommendation.

Recommended Education

My career is related to what I studied. I'd recommend the path I took:

graduate
Graduate
Master's of Educational Diagnostician

Hurdles

The Noise I Shed

From Peers:

"Too much paperwork, glorified secretary"

Challenges I Overcame

Financial