Catching Up with Alumni: Julie Butler

Special education was the focus of Julie Butler’s life before it was a major she declared. The subject and the setting may have changed, but she has always kept those students with emotional, behavioral or intellectual disabilities front and center. Butler’s career has included public and private schools, elementary and middle schools and resource and self-contained settings. It all led her to where she is now as academic director and teacher at Trailhead Community Farm School.

Trailhead is a nonprofit private school for middle school students with disabilities such as autism or ADHD who have experienced difficulties achieving success in other academic settings. Instead of being a complement to attendance at a traditional school, Trailhead serves as the students’ primary school and includes all state standards and Common Core standards required in other South Carolina schools.

We talked to Butler about the history of Trailhead, how it differs from a traditional school and how she felt destined to lead the life-changing work that occurs there every day.

How did you come to work at Trailhead Community Farm School?

I wanted to have more freedom to work with students and do more with them. Students who have autism or ADHD need active learning and it is hard for them to fit into a certain mold; they need the flexibility to be themselves and be accepted for who they are. When I learned about Trailhead, I knew it would be a good fit. We started this school from scratch with our first two students in 2023. I’ve been able to help build this program into what it is now and want to continue seeing it grow.

How is this school different?

In addition to covering all state standards, we go on field trips at least once a week, if not more, to try to encompass more “real-world learning” for them. We also have equine therapy that they can participate in, as well as an on-site therapist that can meet with them whenever a struggle arises so that they can get their needs met and get right back into the classroom, with the goal of missing as little learning as possible.

It can be very difficult for these students to be expected to just sit in their seats and not have any active learning going on. A rigid environment where they either get it or don’t doesn’t benefit the student or the teacher, so our school allows us to take a little more time with each student and make sure they truly are getting it. We want them to be able to make real-life connections to what they’re learning that go beyond a sheet of paper.

So, if we teach a math lesson, we want them to be able to apply that to building something or going to a grocery store and pricing things out and sticking to a budget. Then they see how that work results in a finished product. It’s not just a “one-and-done” lesson; they are getting lifelong lessons.

What is a typical day like here?

For our schedule, students come in between 8 and 9 a.m., with lessons lasting from 9 a.m. to noon. Our classes are taught in very small groups with five to 10 students typically in each group. We try to get them outside as much as possible. We are currently going through Cognia accreditation just like every other school in the state, so we make sure that all students get the curriculum they need, the lessons they need and that we meet all of their accommodations. I also prioritize communication with parents and take care of every need that they may have for their child academically.

We allow flexibility for our students, including the way that we do tests and assessments. They are responsible for showing us what they know based on how they can share the knowledge, not the way we want them to share it.

When did you know special education was right for you?

I’ve wanted to be an educator since I was in elementary school. I always wanted to teach. I had a next-door neighbor that I watched all the time who was deaf, had [cerebral palsy] and a lot of learning disabilities. I knew I wanted to help her learn, that she just learned differently and that that was okay. So, I decided that special education was my route because it would allow me to meet the needs of kids that can easily be looked over. That brought me up to Clemson, and I fell in love with the area, and I haven’t left since.

Being a special education major, the group was very small at the time, and it allowed a lot of individualization with us. We had opportunities to go to a variety of settings to see what was really out there. It allowed us to take our time and develop the skills that we needed. The professors were always right there to support us and walk us through any issues that we may have had. I keep in touch with some of my professors to this day, because of all the support they gave me then.

Is there a faculty member who stood out to you?

Dr. Kent Parker was one of my favorite people at Clemson; he was always willing to take time out and sit down and go over things. If I wasn’t quite sure about the way a situation had taken place, he was always there to walk through it. Even after I graduated, there were many times when he would come to my classrooms, help me through different situations and just generally give advice and support.

How do you stay connected to the University or to the College of Education?

Being in the position that I’m in now, I have so many more opportunities to reach out and be a part of Clemson and connect with the different people, whether those are student teachers or professors that want to collaborate. I also have two children of my own that are Clemson students, so I try to always stay in touch with what’s going on at Clemson. I would do just about anything to support special education students, because it is a group of educators I want to see grow.