Judith Burke directed school hallway traffic as hundreds of teachers packed a session on autism and made their way to a talk on depression and anxiety Friday .

The new director of special education at Morton High School District 201 coordinated an in-service training day for its special education teachers, and the district aims to equip general education teachers to effectively reach special education students.

Burke said schools have been mandated for years to serve special education students in the least restrictive environment.

“We need to provide training for our general education teachers on how to develop appropriate accommodations for special ed kids within their general ed classrooms,” she said.

Burke didn’t stop considering the needs of students with special needs while working as an assistant principal at Morton East High School last year and as an administrator at a high school in the western suburbs for nine years.

Becoming the head of special education this year was bringing her background to the forefront.

As the special needs of about 770 students in thedistrict range from mild learning disabilities to severe physical challenges, she references her early experience in the field.

“As a teenager, I volunteered for Special Olympics, and I saw kids with Cerebral Palsy, who — though their muscles were atrophied — learned to swim and had become so agile in the water, discovering movement,” Burke said.

She learned to see “such amazing potential” in special needs children.

Burke admits dealing with the gamut of special needs, including severe behavior disorders, affects her personal life.

“I wouldn’t be forthcoming if I said it didn’t,” she said.

But the anecdote is her large, supportive and strong family, biking, swimming, running and “baking way too much.”

Her husband Tom Burke, who has a similarly demanding job as a probation officer in DuPage County, helps to recharge Burke, whom he said is “bound with energy” to help others.

“We sit down, and each of us takes a little time and talks about the challenges of our work,” he said. “It’s so enlightening and re-energizes our relationship and our careers.”