Jill Stover is a skilled paralegal, certified teacher, and community service project leader with relevant experience gained over the past 20 years. This background, combined with being the parent of a child diagnosed with ADHD and an autism spectrum disorder, provides her with a unique perspective in problem solving for families trying to navigate the special education maze, as well as in working with agency professionals and educators to understand the parent perspective.

Jill's credentials include Life teaching certifications for Missouri and Texas, as well as a post-baccalaureate paralegal certificate from Southeastern Paralegal Institute’s ABA-approved Paralegal Studies program. Jill has taught students in the elementary and secondary grades through college, building relationships with parents, teachers, administrators and other education stakeholders. In addition to teaching, Jill has served as a professional paralegal in both law firms and corporations and has been a community leader and project manager in various capacities, including serving as 75th President of the Dallas Junior Chamber of Commerce.  Jill served the Parent Training and Information Center in Texas (the PATH Project) as a Regional Coordinator for North Texas counties spanning from Wichita Falls to Texarkana and south through the DFW and surrounding areas.  As a Regional Coordinator, she worked with families, agencies, community coalitions and ISDs concerning special education issues.  In 2010, with a recommendation from Rep. Myra Crownover, Jill was appointed by the Commissioner of the Department of State Health Services (DSHS) to a 6-year term on the Texas School Health Advisory Committee (TSHAC) which assists in advising local SHACs concerning policy and information relevant to school health programs for their ISDs. Jill is a member of the Council of Parents, Advocates and Attorneys (COPAA), Texas Organization of Parents, Advocates and Attorneys (TOPAA), the ARC of NE Tarrant County, Lewisville ISD Special Education PTA, Lake Dallas Middle School PTA, the Association of Supervision and Curriculum Development, and the Autism Society of America.

As the mother of a child diagnosed with an Autism Spectrum Disorder, Jill has demonstrated her tenacity in the face of special education road blocks, as well as her capacity for understanding the law relating to special education. She has successfully completed hundreds of hours of coursework in conferences, workshops and seminars acquiring additional knowledge and skills relating to disabilities, the complex special education process, educational assessment, teaching methods for special needs students, the neuropsychology of learning, advocacy and related disability and special education topics since her child was diagnosed, and is now working with North Texas families to adequately prepare, inform and empower them to achieve successful outcomes through the special education process. Jill has completed specialized advocacy training at COPAA national conferences, the Wrightslaw 2-day Advocacy Boot Camp, the NW Houston Family2Family Fall conference, Parents as Partners series at TEA Region X, the Texas Advanced Leadership and Advocacy Conference, and in numerous trainings with government and private disability organizations such as DARs, the ARC of Texas and NE Tarrant County, FEAT-NT and the Downs Syndrome Guild. Jill also participated as an invited parent-representative in the TEA dispute resolution focus group in Austin in March 2008 and continues to be involved in advocating for legislation benefiting families with children of special needs.  Jill also ascribes to the voluntary advocacy ethics statement promulgated by COPAA and which can be reviewed at http://www.copaa.org/membership/advocates/791-2/.