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PRACTICE AREAS

Advocating for Your

Child

At Link Advocacy, our goal is to strengthen the Link between families and education through coaching, consultation, and in-person advocacy. We understand that every child, every family, and every situation is unique and we strive to work collaboratively with you and your child’s team to establish the most effective educational plan for your child. As your advocate, we will prioritize the educational needs and advocate in the best interest of your child - ALWAYS.

OUR VISION

Jessica McCormick
M.S.Ed., M.A.T.L.

Jessica McCormick is a co-founder and advocate for Link Advocacy. She graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Elementary Education, a Master’s Degree in Teaching and Learning with a specialization in Elementary Reading, and a Master’s Degree in Educational Administration. Her professional career includes seventeen years in the public school system. She was an elementary school teacher for seven years and an elementary school administrator for ten years. As an experienced administrator, Jessica often served as the Local Education Agency (LEA) representative at Individualized Education Plan (IEP) meetings and facilitated Response to Intervention (RtI) planning, implementation, monitoring, training, and team meetings. As a leader within the team, she was often responsible for ensuring that each IEP and intervention plan was written and implemented with fidelity. Additionally, she reviewed and helped draft Individualized Education Plans as a member of the educational team.

Jessica has two children, one child in high school and another child in college. As a parent, she has had to advocate for accelerated and advanced programming. She has also been a foster parent to ten children. Through her experiences as a foster parent, she has participated in early intervention evaluations, eligibility, consultations, therapy sessions, reviews and partnered with multiple local agencies and support providers. She brings a comprehensive, and unique set of experiences to Link Advocacy and looks forward to working with you.

Melissa Robison
M.S. Ed., MBA

Melissa Robison is a co-founder of Link Advocacy and has over 17 years of experience in the field of Special Education. Melissa graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Special Education from Northern Illinois University, a Master’s Degree in Education Technology and a Master of Business Administration degree. Additionally, Melissa holds credentials in the areas of Special Education Administration, Chief School Business Official and English as a Second Language.

Melissa has worked with students in kindergarten through post-high school, and in public and non-public school settings. Melissa’s teaching career began in the same district she attended as a student. She later became an administrator in that same school district. Having been a student, teacher, and administrator within this district gave Melissa a great sense of pride. As an administrator, Melissa worked with some of the most complex cases, and with families who have had students placed in non-public therapeutic day schools or residential treatment centers. Melissa stepped away from the public school setting five years ago in order to oversee operations and compliance for a private therapeutic day school group in the Chicagoland area.

Melissa has three children who are still in the school system. She passionately advocates for her children, as well as for her friends and family. As a parent, she has gone through an early intervention evaluation with her youngest daughter, and a speech and language evaluation with her son. Her oldest has an Individualized Education Plan as a Type 1 Diabetic. Collaborating with the public school system to help students and parents find success is a priority for her.

Professional Services

Professional Services

* For a complete description of each service listed below, double click on the image.

Our mission is to strengthen the Link between educational rights and successful outcomes for your child.

Client Testimonials

Kim, Parent

Mateo, High School Student

My son was having difficulty with emotional regulation in his 2nd grade classroom. He was disruptive to the teacher and the class. My school district can be resistant to ideas, so Jessica attended my son's IEP meeting with me and was able to secure a shared aide for my son. She was extremely professional and knowledgeable. I am so grateful to have had Jessica advocate for my son.

Elizabeth, Parent

My son was really struggling in school, and it just broke my heart to continually watch him struggle. I had reached out to the school, on many occasions, asking that he be evaluated to see if he would qualify to receive special education services. There seemed to be reason after reason to delay the process, the most recent being Covid. After a mutual friend had connected me with Jessica, we worked together to request an evaluation and we discovered that my son was in fact eligible for special education services. I can't thank Jessica enough and I'm so grateful for her help. I only wished I had reached out sooner.

Melissa helped me organize my work load and taught me how to break down assignments in chunks. She kept me accountable through weekly meetings and through email. Also, Melissa helped me understand my learning style and my confidence grew as I became more successful. I struggled with reading and I didn’t understand why. After she looked at the data and listened to my concerns she helped me understand that I need audiobooks and snippets of video to get the concept. That was extremely helpful to my learning.