Mike's Blog

Mike Frandsen 

SUMMARY:     

▪       Policy and Technical Writing/Behavioral Health Specialist with more than 20 years of experience in strategic writing, analysis/research, technical editing, and developing/implementing various projects.

▪       Highly motivated and organized with exceptional written and oral communication skills, including translating technical information into plain language.

▪       Thrives in fast-paced, deadline-driven environment, and teams well with diverse groups to achieve quality results on schedule.

▪       Extensive experience in public health working with and volunteering for people who have developmental, intellectual, physical, and psychiatric disabilities.

EXPERIENCE:     

Independent Service Provider, Bethesda, MD, 12/06 – Present.  Provide one-to-one services for children with autism spectrum disorders using elements of both Applied Behavioral Analysis (ABA) and the Developmental Individual-Difference Relationship-Based (DIR) Model. Services include academic tutoring, coaching on social skills and understanding emotions, facilitating participation in sports and other recreational activities, teaching life skills, and supervising play dates.  Collected data on the progress of children meeting xs and milestones and wrote status updates and progress reports for parents that included recommendations.  Visit www.coachmike.net for more information.

National Autism Examiner, Examiner.com, Washington, DC 4/10 – Present.  Wrote autism articles for www.examiner.com.  See http://www.examiner.com/dc-in-national/mike-frandsen. Articles appeared in the Fall 2010 and Summer 2011 issues of Autism Spectrum Quarterly Magazine at http://www.asquarterly.com/.  Also contributed articles to Mackay (Australia) Autism Support Group Newsletter and Chesapeake Family Magazine.

DC Sports Examiner, Examiner.com, Washington, DC 2/10 – Present.  Wrote local sports articles for www.examiner.com.  See http://www.examiner.com/sports-in-washington-dc/mike-frandsen. Interviewed on AM 640 in Toronto February 2011 about article written about Dan Snyder.

Sportswriter, Bleacher Report, 7/11 – Present. Wrote local sports articles for www.bleacherreport.com. See http://bleacherreport.com/users/583899-mike-frandsen.

Employment Advocate, 12/03 – Present.  Advocated for people with disabilities to gain employment with federal government through the special hiring authority known as the Schedule A program.  Investigated, wrote, and published special report describing the government’s lack of usage of this program at http://www.coachmike.net/special_report.php.

Employment Coach, Ivymount School, Rockville, MD, 1/07 – 6/07.  Monitored and supervised post high-school special education students age 18-21 at job sites in community based program.  Implemented career/employment related Individual Education Plan (IEP) and Transition goals as specified in student’s IEP.  Worked as Assistant Teacher while in class.

Independent Visitation Supervisor, Potomac, MD, 11/06 – 4/07.  Supervised non-custodial parent of four children at her residence during weekend visits.  Work for children’s best interests, providing activities and ensuring children are free from unnecessary stress.

Intensive Individual Support Services Therapist, Children Achieving Maximum Potential, Inc., Silver Spring, MD, 1/05 – Present.  Provided one-on-one support to autistic child, using elements of both ABA and the DIR Model.  Supported social, emotional, creative, and intellectual development of child.  This included helping child reduce inappropriate behavior, teaching child to communicate in an appropriate manner, and assisting the child in fostering greater independence and socially responsible behavior. Worked with child to understand emotions and improve social skills. Coached child in first activities with non-autistic children:  soccer practices and games in a regular league, providing one-on-one coaching.  Also supervised play dates with autistic boy and typically developing children.

Independent Contractor, Seeking Equality, Empowerment, and Community (SEEC), Silver Spring, MD, 2008, 2010; Target Educational Services, 2007-2009.  Worked with adults with autism to involve them in social activities in community and provide educational services.

Sensory-Motor Specialist, the Shire School, Falls Church, VA, 2009.  Develop and implement sensory-motor program for private school for students with autism.

Substitute Teacher, Ivymount School, Rockville, MD, 2/06 – 12/07.  Provided special education instruction and assistance for students with developmental delays, learning disabilities, communication disorders, autism, and/or multiple disabilities.

Substitute Paraeducator, Stephen Knolls School, Wheaton, MD, 2/06 – 12/06.  Taught students who have severe and profound disabilities, and those with medically fragile conditions. 

Volunteer, National Institute of Mental Health, Bethesda, MD, 9/06-1/07.  Volunteered one day a week to write inaugural draft autism newsletter for Pediatrics & Developmental Neuropsychiatry Branch, NIMH.  Also edited documents.

Information Technology Policy Analyst, National Institutes of Health (NIH), Bethesda, MD, 12/01 – 1/07 (Federal employee, GS-13 Step 10); Technical Writer, CETECH (on site at NIH), 10/98 – 12/01.

• Developed documents that supported enterprise-wide security initiatives and risk management strategies that enhanced the NIH IT security program, complied with federal regulations, and supported the NIH mission through a defense-in-depth posture.  Researched federal IT security regulations and technology trends and recommended security solutions to senior management to minimize risks.  Also worked on certification and accreditation (C&A) oversight for National Database on Autism Research.  Volunteered one day per week at NIMH, writing a draft newsletter on NIMH’s autism research program. Edited documents on clinical trials regarding autism.

• Developed NIH-wide policies, procedures, and practices including NIH Remote Access Policy, NIH Remote Access Security Standards and Procedures, NIH Web Server Policy, NIH Vulnerability Scanning Policy, NIH Firewall Policy, and NIH Password Policy.  Developed flowcharts to describe procedures.  Developed NIH Network Interconnection Security Agreement for commercial and federal non-NIH organizations connected to NIHnet.  Two HHS Operating Divisions, four commercial organizations, and one non-HHS federal agency agreed to signed this ISA, and three additional organizations terminated their network connections to NIHnet as a result of the ISA, eliminating unnecessary, government-maintained connections and saving costs to NIH.

• Collected, developed, and prepared documentation for HHS Office of Inspector General Federal Information Security Management Act (FISMA) audits of NIH IT Security Program.  Developed answers to OMB FISMA questions for NIH and responded to HHS OIG findings.  Supported NIH implementation of HHS Security Program Team initiatives, developed NIH responses to HHS data calls, and provided NIH comments to department-wide documents such as the HHS IT Strategic Plan.  Collected and reported quarterly data to HHS for Reliability of NIH Critical Infrastructure Services.  Developed documents relating to requirements of Presidential Decision Directive 63, Critical Infrastructure Protection.  Developed Draft HHS Managed Security Services Statement of Work.

• Assisted in development of NIH IT Security Consolidation Plan and NIH Enterprise Master IT Security Plan.  Revised Security Plan deliverables for NIH Network and Clinical Center projects.  Developed initial NIH Incident Response Team Plan and incident handling procedures.  Analyzed and distributed intrusion detection alerts and wrote security advisories.  Prepared security presentations and briefings for use by NIH CIO, Deputy CIO, and Chief Information Security Officer.  Developed awareness documents for NIH IT security web site including FAQs and CIT Security Handbook.  Provided guidance and oversight to Institute and Center (IC) security personnel regarding contractor proposals, interconnection agreements, and C&A of systems.

• Performed human resources duties including writing position descriptions, identifying Knowledge, Skills and Abilities (KSAs) and developing job questions for new positions and promotions.

Part-Time Writer, Mizell and Co., International Security, Bethesda, MD, 2002 – 2003.  Wrote summaries of open source operational and political incidents involving terrorism, crime, espionage, and safety obtained from the media and other unclassified sources.

Project Planner, Amdex Corporation at U.S. Customs, Springfield, VA, 2/98 – 8/98.  Developed Automated Export System (AES) Project Plan in compliance with Customs Systems Development Life Cycle (SDLC).

• Planned and tracked progress of AES projects through meetings and MS Project representation.  Compared estimated progress to actual progress; implemented corrective actions.
• Prepared development team for GAO audit for Capability Maturity Model Level 2 compliance by ensuring processes were appropriately documented.
• Collected and analyzed performance measures.
• Revised Customs SDLC project task list and weekly status report template.  Translated technical information into high level, bottom-line reports for management. 
• Wrote success­ful budget narrative, after which Customs’ Investment Review Board fully funded AES project.  Wrote AES Briefing Book, AES User Guide, and wrote proposals.   

Budget and Personnel Coordinator, School of Communication, American University, Washington, DC, 9/96 – 2/98.  Monitored and assisted in preparing budgets and expenditures for SOC; procured items accordingly and reviewed ledgers for accuracy. Oversaw preparation of personnel documents, purchase requisitions, disbursement requests, travel forms and other documents.  Served as liaison with the Controller’s Office, Human Resources, Payroll, Purchasing, Physical Plant, Public Safety, Support Services, Telecommunications and other university departments; resolved problems with those units as well as with outside vendors and suppliers.  Supervised staff of four.

Reporter/Producer, Metro Traffic Control, Bethesda, MD, 1993-95.  As mobile reporter, provided traffic updates from van for stations and other traffic reporters.  As studio anchor, broadcast midday reports for WMAL and WRC, as well as rush hour reports for network stations. As producer, disseminated information to anchors and airborne reporters.  Trained new reporters.

Producer, Sportsradio WTEM, Rockville, MD, 1992-93.  Called in live and did reports from Bullets and Caps games.  Did overnight sportscasts.  Edited tape for sportscasts.  Operated board for live shows.

Producer, Mutual Radio, Arlington, VA, 1990-92.  Edited tape for NBC and Mutual sportscasts.  Produced live Olympic reports from studio.  Called in live from Redskins, Bullets, and Caps games. Reports aired nationally.  Read scores and stories into Scores Plus, a national 900 sports phone service. Wrote sportscasts. Instructed stringers on content of reports. Trained tape editors.

Deejay, various stations, 1990-92.  WMJR 107.7-FM, Manassas, VA; WARK 106.9 FM, Hagerstown, MD; WNAV-1430 AM, Annapolis, MD; WMET 1150-AM, Gaithersburg, MD.  Also wrote and read news/sports.

Sports Editor, The Transcript, Delaware, Ohio, 1987-88. Wrote, edited, assigned articles and news articles.

EDUCATION:     

MS, Education, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, 2011. GPA: 3.8.

Graduate Certificate, Autism and Pervasive Developmental Disorders, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, 2008.  GPA:  3.5.

MBA, Management of Global Information Technology, American University, Washington, DC, 1999.  GPA:  3.4

BA, Journalism, Ohio Wesleyan University, Delaware, Ohio, 1990.

Completed Special Education graduate course at George Washington University: Family Guidance in Special Education, 12/06.

Participated in Interdisciplinary Council on Developmental and Learning Disorders annual conferences, 2007-2010.

Attending Georgetown Mini-Medical School, fall 2011.

Test scores:  GMAT:  640

GRE Math:  740

Praxis I:  Reading:  184 out of 190, Writing:  184 out of 190, Math:  188 out of 190.  (The      Praxis is one of several requirements for teacher certification).

Certifications:  5 IT Security certifications.

ACTIVITIES / OTHER EXPERIENCE:

Served on Coaches Committee for Kids Enjoy Exercise Now (KEEN): www.keenusa.org, volunteer organization for children and young adults with severe and profound mental and physical disabilities, 1999-2006.  Named KEEN 2003 Volunteer of the Year.                         

Mentioned and pictured in articles on KEEN in Bethesda Gazette and Montgomery Journal.

Volunteered with Special Olympics/TOP Soccer, Montgomery Soccer as a coach for disabled teenagers, 2006-2007.  Named Top Soccer Volunteer of the Year for 2007.

Experience volunteering for children and young adults with disabilities including but not limited to:

• Agenesis of the Corpus Callosum*
• Anxiety Disorder
• Asperger’s Syndrome
• Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder
• Autism/Autism Spectrum Disorders*
• Cerebral Palsy
• Echolalia
• Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder
• Rett Syndrome
• Sensory Integration Disorder
• Trisomy-21 (Down Syndrome)
• Tuberous Sclerosis