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It all started in late 1996 when Mark Doyle met a family frustrated with the situation with their child's lack of support in school. Their 10 year old was not making the progress in school that they knew she was capable of making. Since kindergarten, Samantha (not her real name) had always struggled in school. Although she was very strong when it came to reading, she had difficulty understanding the words that she read, organizing ideas and information, and struggled greatly in math, often making simple mistakes like adding instead of subtracting. Her teachers' only explanation was that Samantha wasn't paying attention in class. It was even suggested by a teacher that her parents look into medication for ADD for Sam. Her parents knew that there was something else going on but the school offered no further help or ideas and Sam continued to struggle and fall further behind.
 Willie Garvin with advocate Mark Doyle
Finally, frustrated from the school's lack of response, Sam's parents brought her to a child psychologist for an evaluation the summer before she was to enter third grade. The psychologist did extensive cognitive and achievement testing and determined that Sam's struggles in school were due to a non-verbal learning disability. With the psychologist's report in hand, hew parents went back to the school and were elated and thought that their daughter would finally get the help she needed to make gains in school. But two years and many meetings later, Sam was still not making any progress. Sam's special education teacher even admitted that she really didn't even know how to teach a child with NVLD. In a meeting early in Sam's fifth grade year, the school's educational team began talking about alternate placements that could better meet Sam's needs, specifically a program outside her home school. Sam's parents were angry, and didn't know what to do. Luckily for Sam, they were introduced to Mark Doyle. After talking with Sam's parents and reviewing all of her records, Mark attended the next few meetings and with Mark's guidance, the team began discussing ways to address Sam's needs in her current placement. A detailed educational plan was developed, proper services were put into place, training for teachers was recommended and an effective home-school communication system was set up. With the team finally working as a team, Sam's educational environment was designed around her and she began to flourish. Since then, Everyone Is Welcome, Inc. has supported several hundreds of families like Sam's through the special education system in Illinois and surrounding states. As advocates and former special education teachers, we know that it is difficult for parents to be an effective part of their child's educational/support team when they are not knowledgeable about the process. Very often the entire Special Education/Adult Services process is a mystery to parents therefore we continuously work to help unravel some of the mystery and help parents to acquire the tools needed to become empowered members of their child's educational/support team. Everyone Is Welcome, Inc. is often invited and presents at various parent group meetings on the topic of advocacy, new laws and regulations and various other topics. Our advocacy/consultant team members remain active in professional and disability organizations and serve on various Boards of Directors such as TASH, Day One Network, and the Illinois Branch of the International Dyslexia Association, L.D.A. and other Boards. Our company is known by and works with several nationally known leaders and experts in the field of disability. Our broad base of knowledge in the field makes us extremely qualified to be your advocate.
Our team consists of several consultants, advocates and support personnel. A major variable that makes us unique in the market place, is not only our contacts in the field, and our ability to provide top quality services by well trained and qualified individuals, but that over half of our team members are parents of individuals with disabilities. Our consultants not only address issues within the disability community, we live it daily.
Profile Mark is highly recognized for his involvement in providing technical assistance to community agencies, schools and parent groups on the "how to" of making community integration and educational inclusion happen. Mark consults with schools and providers across Illinois that are working toward supporting students/adults with disabilities in the Least Restrictive Environment/Community. Mark has successfully advocated on behalf of hundreds of students with disabilities over the past 20 years. Mark has personally mentored several advocates and has been a leader in promoting at strong statewide advocacy system. While employed by the Illinois Council on Developmental Disabilities, Mark authored a white paper in the spring of 1994 titled "Inclusive Education Advocacy Issues" which has served as a blue print to many of the advocacy efforts promoted in the state of Illinois. Mark has been a member of both International & Illinois TASH, has served as President and Past-President of Illinois TASH Board of Governors, and has served on several International TASH committee's. He currently serves on the Board of Directors and is past Board President of Day One Network which provides case coordination for Kane/Kendall counties in Illinois.
Lori Bjork
Profile Lori Bjork has been in the field of education for almost 20 years. She is a certified classroom teacher and holds a Master of Education degree. She has experience working with a variety of students including students with special needs in general education settings. Lori brings a unique perspective to Everyone Is Welcome. She understands the parent's emotional needs when it comes to helping their child. Lori has served as an advocate for her own son who now receives services at his home school. Lori has served on the Board of Directors for Easter Seals- Joliet Region and continues to help them with fundraising.
Everyone Is Welcome, Inc. teaming with the following affiliates has strengthened our capacity to obtain expert advice; top quality state of the art information/resources; professional development opportunities for our consultants; and the ability to connect our families to these same experts and resources. Dr. Tim J. Wahlberg Brooks Publishing Company
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Mark Doyle
Teresa Kray 
| 3 South 2nd Street St. Charles, IL 60174 ph: 630-584-0970 info@eiwelcome.com |
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