Center for Spelling Manager

POSITION TITLE: Center for Spelling Manager

STATUS: Full-Time, Exempt

REPORTS TO: Chief Operating Officer

DEPARTMENT: Programming

THE BEN’S HOPE WAY

Committed to loving God and others, we fiercely respect the dignity, intelligence, and value of all

humans. We are creative, courageous, and committed to excellence. Through the love of Christ, we live the abundant life together.

POSITION SUMMARY

The Center for Spelling Manager exists to build and sustain an excellent spelling program that expands communication, learning, and self-expression for nonspeaking people. This role leads program quality and growth by developing skilled instructors, ensuring individualized and respectful instruction, strengthening student progress, engaging families, and establishing the systems and capacity necessary for long-term impact.

The manager maintains an active student caseload while leading the integration of spelling into everyday life at Benjamin's Hope. Through partnership with residents, students, families, residential teams, instructors, researchers, and community partners, the role advances the vision of the Center for Spelling at Benjamin's Hope and expands access to spelling-based communication throughout Michigan.

AREAS OF ACCOUNTABILITY

• Program Excellence & Sustainability: Build and continuously strengthen a high-quality spelling program with clear standards, effective systems, consistent instruction, and the capacity to grow without compromising excellence.
• Instructor Leadership & Development: Recruit, supervise, coach, and develop spelling instructors through observation, review of videos and student work, clear feedback, meaningful accountability, and progressive competency development.
• Student Learning & Progress: Maintain an active caseload of approximately 8-10 students while ensuring individualized, challenging, and respectful instruction; use goals, assessments, documentation, videos, and student response to guide strategies and next steps.
• Spelling in Everyday Life: Equip and coach residential staff to create meaningful opportunities for residents to use spelling within their homes, relationships, routines, choices, and community experiences, leading to greater voice, participation, and self-direction.
• Family & Guardian Partnership: Build trusting partnerships with parents and guardians and develop effective ways to educate, train, and equip families to support spelling and communication.
• Program Operations & Resources: Ensure scheduling, instructor and student assignments, instructional spaces, documentation, technology, equipment, materials, and logistics support an organized, effective, and growing program.
• Access, Capacity & Community Impact: Develop instructors, training systems, partnerships, and infrastructure that expand access to RPM and spelling-based communication within Benjamin's Hope and across Michigan.
• Research & Continuous Learning: Participate in research initiatives and collaborate with researchers, universities, and other partners to strengthen practice and advance understanding of nonspeaking communication.
• Center for Spelling Advancement: Establish the Center as a trusted statewide resource through effective outreach, marketing, and enrollment growth.

QUALIFICATIONS

Required

• Demonstrated excellence and experience providing advanced spelling instruction.
• Experience leading, coaching, training, or developing others.
• Demonstrated ability to build effective systems, organize multiple priorities, and grow program capacity.
• Strong written, verbal, interpersonal, organizational, and technology skills.
• Unwavering belief in the intelligence, dignity, and communication potential of nonspeaking people.
• Strong alignment with the mission of Benjamin's Hope and the Ben's Hope Way.

Preferred

• Obtained or working toward Level 3 RPM competency.
• Experience supervising or developing spelling instructors.
• Experience building or expanding a communication or educational program.
• Experience training parents, staff, or other communication partners.
• Experience participating in research or university partnerships.
• Education and experience in speech language pathology an added bonus.

PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS

• Humble and emotionally intelligent
• Visionary and outcome-oriented
• Curious and reflective
• Patient and adaptable
• Courageous and accountable
• Organized and systems-minded
• Collaborative and relationship-centered
• Committed to excellence

WORKING ENVIRONMENT & PHYSICAL REQUIREMENTS

• Work occurs across instructional, office, residential, and community environments.
• Regular interaction with autistic individuals and people with complex communication, sensory, and behavioral support needs.
• Ability to sit, stand, walk, bend, reach, and move as needed during instruction, observation, coaching, and program activities.
• Regular use of computers, communication technology, video, and instructional equipment.
• Some travel may be required for training, research, professional development, and partnerships.
• Occasional evening or weekend responsibilities may be required based on program and organizational needs.

This job description is intended to describe the general nature of the work performed and is not intended to be an exhaustive list of all responsibilities. Responsibilities may change based on organizational needs.