Jackie Cross-Ecford has dedicated over 25 years of her life advocating for children with disabilities including her son James.   In 1992 Jackie’s son was diagnosed with Pervasive Developmental Disability, Not Otherwise Specified, an Autism Spectrum Disorder.  Becoming a  lay\educational advocate became a special interest of study after Jackie’s difficult experience as a young single parent of  a child with autism trying to access services for her son from the public school system.. Faced with the challenge of accessing educational services and a program of learning for her son, she quickly understood the need to raise the educational standards set for him.  In response she changed her life’s course, left the world of Financial Planning and Insurance Services, to pursue a course of study and training that would equip her with the information, resources, knowledge, and skills to become an effective and powerful advocate for her child.

 

While advocating for her son and following the advent of having a sibling newly diagnosed with a mental health disability, Jackie discovered a disparity in resources for children with disabilities; especially those with behavioral and mental health challenges.   Having experienced the positive impact of her involvement in her son’s educational programming she discovered the relationship between family involvement in the role of advocate, resources, and student performance.  Having also experienced the bigotry of low expectations for her son and witnessing the degree to which other families were plagued by this she expanded her advocacy to include other families.  She began her expansion with the inclusion of other children with communication-related disabilities and other mental health/ behavioral manifested disabilities.  In 1999 she officially opened her doors to the families of children with disabilities as an independent contractor of advocacy services under the DBA Educational Access Services.  She has since served over 300 families in 20 plus school districts including districts in other states.

 

She continues to work daily to fulfill her mission of “Empowering Families to Empower All Children; including all children with disabilities”.  She achieves this mission by Equipping families of children with disabilities with the tools, knowledge, and advocacy to become effective advocates and equal partners in their child’s education.   As an advocate, her advocacy continues to expand to include more and more families with a variety of disabilities, differences, and difficulties. Although Jackie works primarily with families attending ARD/IEP related meetings, 504 related meeting, advocating for individualized educational programs of specialized services and accommodations, behavior support plans, intervention plans and assisting parents in the filing of state complaints and attending parent administrative proceedings; she also conducts workshops and presents at parent, women and teaching conferences. 

 

Jackie’s 20 plus years of experience has been built on a commitment to learning and acquiring the academic information, knowledge, and skills to function effectively as an advocate, consultant, and specialist in procedures to effectively empower parents in the role as an advocate for their child.  She has developed through the years a unique expertise in utilizing the IDEA and 504 procedures.  In addition, she has developed an in-depth understanding of anti-discrimination regulations including ADA, Title II and other federal and state civil rights and procedural safeguard procedures put in place to protect rights of children with from discrimination and their family’s rights of participation in the role as an advocate for their child.  This would include making sure students are safe from acts of bullying and teasing and parents are free to fulfill their role as an advocate for their child without fear of retaliation.

Jackie has successfully assisted over 300 families in their efforts to access for their student an individualized program of special education service, individualized accommodations, personal graduation plans and interventions including behavioral supports in 16 school districts and three states:  Texas, Mississippi, and Illinois. 

Jackie’s greatest accomplishments are the success of her students including her son James, who successfully completed high school, participated and excelled in athletics while completing college with a BFA in Digitial Media.  Many of the students whom she has advocated have also successfully graduated and are currently enrolled in military, junior college, vocational, internships and university programs.