Meet Bob Barrows
Special Education Transition Consultant
Bob Barrows has been making a significant impact on Special Education in Colorado since 1987. Some highlights include:
- Began career in 1987 as a long-term substitute teacher in a significant support needs classroom before serving as an adaptive physical education teacher for his first 5 years.
- Began serving as a high school administrator in 1993 and served as the Special Education (SPED) Administrator for high school teams, offering supervision, guidance, and support during the first half of his career.
- In 2001 began serving as a high school principal and led his school to the Governor’s Award for Distinguished Improvement after his first year.
- In 2006 began working with students with disabilities and their families as Special Education Director in Jefferson County, Colorado. During that tenure, the Autism Society of Colorado recognized him as the Outstanding Professional of the Year in 2014.
- Served as Principal of the Fletcher Miller School, a specialized school for students with profound IDD, and worked on a special grant with the Colorado Department of Education (CDE) and renowned researcher Karen Erickson from the University of North Carolina to improve instructional strategies for emergent learners (those with profound IDD).
- Provided dynamic leadership for all special educators when he was the Executive Director for Special Education in Academy School District 20 in Colorado Springs, one of Colorado's premier and high-performing school districts.
- Awarded Child Advocate of the Year by the Arc of Mesa County, Colorado in 2021 after only one year of serving as the High School Coordinator of Special Education for the Mesa County school district.
- Facilitated state grant initiatives through the Colorado Department of Education in Mesa County. Mesa County has become a leader in providing cutting-edge transition strategies and connecting the school district and families to community agencies.
- Currently consulting for the Colorado Department of Education in the areas of transition and interagency collaboration.
- Currently consulting with Mesa County School District 51 in the area of interagency collaboration.
Bob Barrows with his dog, Norman,
at the Glen Eyrie Conference Center and Hotel.
Bob officially retired in 2019 and raised his yellow lab to be a therapy dog for his consulting business. He began special education consulting after one year of retirement.
A personal message from Bob
"Throughout my adult life I have been blessed by a multitude of families who had children with disabilities of all varieties. I am most honored to have been alongside the most inspiring children with disabilities of all ages and types. Without a doubt, I have learned more from these young people than they have learned from me. I am so thankful that I have been able to continue supporting our young people and families with disabilities.
"As my career has progressed, my mind has been opened up to what it really takes to ensure that all of our young people with disabilities will have a highly successful adult life. For so much of my administrative career as a high school administrator and then as a special education director, you are responsible for so many things and responding to so many crises, that you can miss the intentionality required to focus on this path to successful adulthood for our students with IDD.
"The roadmaps and blueprints are out there for what we need to do to ensure success for all of our students with disabilities. In some places, special education is very high performing with the majority of staff utilizing best practices. In other places special education is oblivious to best practices of Transition for a variety of reasons. So, we have huge gaps across our nation when it comes to serving our children with disabilities.
"My mission is to fill these gaps for those who want to ensure a symbiotic path to adult success. I do this by celebrating where we are high performing and to plan for improvement where we need to grow. My events are not sit and get. Be ready to have interactive dialogue with multiple colleagues and to be moving around several times a session both indoors and outdoors. My event programs fill gaps to benefit our children, young adults and parents with disabilities!"
