ACCESS GROUP - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Assistant Academy Director, Lower School
Job Titles:
- Early Childhood Specialist
Brittany P. Franklin, M.S.E. has been part of the ACCESS Early Childhood team for more than 15 years as a lead teacher, Pre-K 3 team leader, and coordinator. She is currently the ACCESS Early Childhood Specialist and oversees continuing education for all of our teachers and teacher's assistants. As the Early Childhood Specialist, Brittany is able to work with the students and watch them gain new skills throughout their journey at ACCESS. She enjoys watching her students learn as they experience the unique, literacy-based curriculum used at ACCESS and believes early intervention is key. Our team approach and multi-sensory learning methods can help our students reach their full potential by honing in on their strengths and using those strengths to help them develop needed skills.
Brittany holds a Bachelor in Psychology and Early Childhood Education from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock and a Master in Early Childhood Special Education from Arkansas State University. She is licenced through the Arkansas Department of Education as a PK-4 Early Childhood Education teacher and PK-4 Special Education teacher. She received her certification in the Dubard-Association Method in 2016. She is currently a certified Autism Informed Professional and is working to complete her certificate as an Autism Spectrum Disorder Clinical Specialist.
During her down time, Brittany enjoys getting out and exploring the state with her husband and two daughters. She and her husband often go out on long hikes around the US leaving everything behind but their backpacks. Brittany has also developed an interest in fencing through her youngest daughter. She hopes this will be something they can share throughout their lifetime.
Elizabeth Thomas, B.S.E. has been part of the ACCESS Early Childhood team for more than six years and is currently a lead teacher for Pre-K 4. Elizabeth understands that every child has the ability to learn, and she encourages individual success for every student in her classroom by expanding their knowledge, experiences and life skills. Elizabeth loves working with the Pre-K 4 age group and experiencing their incredible progress throughout the year. Elizabeth's experience at ACCESS has encouraged her to think creatively and provide an innovative, interactive classroom with multi-sensory learning methods and a team approach that stimulates each child's growth and development.
Elizabeth graduated from the University of Arkansas earning a Bachelor in Early Childhood Education with a minor in special education and child development. She is certified in The Dubard-Association Method and has gone through classroom transitions, music across the curriculum, and basic sign language training. In 2021, Elizabeth was named Little Rock Family magazine's Amazing Educator for Special Needs.
Elizabeth grew up in Arkansas and is a huge Razorback fan! When not working, Elizabeth loves being with her family, friends, and especially her dog. She enjoys spending time outdoors, traveling, and fun, crafty art projects!
Erin Walker has been the Lead Teacher in the Upper 2 Classroom at the ACCESS Academy since 2018. Erin came to ACCESS with years of experience working with adults with disabilities as a Service & Residential Coordinator in Colorado. She has a Degree in Art Education, giving her a creative approach to Special Education where she integrates academic skills along with project-based learning into her curriculum daily.
Erin believes in promoting her students' individual potential and independence through teaching functional life skills and employability skills. Erin and her team have created a campus-wide Coffee & Snack Cart and Online Store, which teaches students transferable job skills such as money management and customer service. In addition to her role as Lead Teacher, Erin is the Vocation Innovation Project (VIP) Program Coordinator. VIP is ACCESS's Pre-Employment Transition Services Program that gives students the opportunity to gain skills through paid work experience.
Erin's favorite part about her job at ACCESS is working as a team with therapists to meet each student's individual needs and seeing students grow and succeed. When she isn't working, Erin can be found outdoors camping, hiking, and kayaking or channeling her artistic creativity through graphic design, clay, and other crafts.
George Robertson has been part of the ACCESS Academy team for the past twelve years as the Lead Teacher for the Upper 1 classroom. George's goal is to create a positive and supportive classroom environment that helps each student reach his or her maximum potential leading to a full and meaningful life.
George has a Master of Science degree in Educational Leadership from Nova Southeastern University in Florida. During his 30 year career, George has worked as a Special Education and ESL teacher, Behavior Specialist and Building Administrator on the elementary, middle and high school levels in the United States and Europe.
George's favorite part of working for ACCESS is seeing the achievements of his current and former students. These achievements include students earning their GED, receiving their driver's license, attending college, finding full-time employment, getting married, and achieving full independence. When he is not at school, George enjoys swimming and lifting weights, playing with his dog Piper and spending time with his wife of almost 40 years, Deborah. The couple has one son, Michael, who is an Olympian and Orthopedic Trauma Surgeon.
Job Titles:
- Early Childhood 3 Lead Teacher
Job Titles:
- Assistant Academy Director of Intermediate School
Janice Edmonson, M.S., CCC-SLP, has been with ACCESS since 1999. She currently serves as the Assistant Director of Intermediate School on the ACCESS Academy campus. Janice loves discovering students' strengths and weaknesses while helping the ACCESS team develop tools and strategies to meet each individual's learning needs. She enjoys exploring curriculum options and technology tools that meet the needs of the ACCESS students. Janice still enjoys teaching and therapy and often fills in when needed. She can often be found in the lunchroom or on the playground, building relationships with intermediate students. Janice also enjoys mentoring and collaborating with teachers and therapists. As the former technology resource coordinator and an academic therapist, Janice knows that technology is an important tool for students to improve oral and written communication.
Janice holds a Master's of Science in Communicative Disorders from the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, along with a Bachelor's of Science in Speech Pathology from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. Janice is certified in the DuBard Association Method and has completed numerous trainings through the International Dyslexia Association, Landmark Outreach, and the DuBard School for Language Disorders. She has over 20 years of experience working with students with language-based learning disabilities at ACCESS and surrounding schools. Janice has worked as a speech-language pathologist, classroom teacher, academic-language therapist, and technology coordinator at ACCESS. She has also assisted with diagnostics and evaluations through the ACCESS Evaluation and Resource Center.
Janice enjoys helping ACCESS meet the needs of families in our community. When not at ACCESS, she can often be found at the gym watching a basketball game or cheering at a high school football game. She also enjoys curling up in a quiet place with a great book!
Jennifer Lee joined the ACCESS Early Childhood team in August of 2019 and is currently the Lead Teacher in the Milestones class. Before coming to ACCESS, Jennifer was the lead caregiver at the Easter Seals Children's Rehabilition Center in Little Rock. She has completed coursework in behavioral health at the University of Arkansas Little Rock.
Jennifer's favorite part about working at ACCESS is being able to watch her clients achieve many milestones. When she's not serving the ACCESS mission, Jennifer likes to spend time with her teenage son and travel with family and friends.
Job Titles:
- Director of Adult Services
Job Titles:
- Director of Human Resources
Job Titles:
- Early Childhood 2 Lead Teacher
Katie McSweeney, M.Ed. joined the ACCESS Academy Education team in 2022. Katie truly enjoys teaching her students and delights in discovering the ways each student learns best. With her experience in teaching children with various abilities across multiple settings, she is able to use that experience and unique understanding of her students to connect with them as individual learners.
Katie has worked as a special educator in Central Arkansas since1998. She holds a Master of Education in Special Education from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. Her Bachelor of Science in Education, also from UALR, is in Deaf Education and Elementary Education. Katie is licensed in the state of Arkansas as a Special Education Instructional Specialist and a Special Education Hearing Specialist for grades PK-4 and 4-12, as well as an Elementary Educator for grades 1-6.
Katie's favorite part of working at ACCESS so far is the students she serves as well as the team approach to helping her students. Katie enjoys time spent with her family, being a part of her church family, this beautiful state, and learning new things!
Kim DeRamus currently serves as a Pre-K 3 lead teacher for the ACCESS Early Childhood program. Kim loves working with kids, something she has been passionate about her whole life. She loves providing a safe and fun learning environment that encourages independence and confidence. Kim challenges herself to meet each child at their own level, finding special ways to connect with each student. It fills her heart to see a child discovering how to communicate his or her wants and needs.
Kim loves teaching at ACCESS, from decorating her classroom and celebrating students' birthdays to helping each child achieve their potential! The comraderie between the education team and therapists is one of her favorite aspects of the program. Everyone working as a team to improve the lives of our students is not only unique but something she finds incredibly rewarding.
Kim holds a Bachelor Degree in Child and Family Sciences from Harding University, specializing in child development. Kim joined ACCESS in 2018 as a teacher's assistant and has been in a lead teacher position for the past four years.
Other than being a teacher, Kim's biggest achievement was being foster mom. She had the privilege of bringing 15 children into her home, one of them becoming Kim's forever son. Her time as a foster parent taught her a lot about compassion and advocating for the needs of children. It also taught her the power of connection which she tries to implement with both the students and parents of children in her classroom.
Job Titles:
- Speech - Language Pathologist
- Due Process Coordinator
Lorie Baker, M.A., CCC/SLP, has been a part of the ACCESS Early Childhood team since 2008 and is currently the Due Process Coordinator. Lorie assists with curriculum and planning and coordinates transition to school-age services with our families and local school districts. Lorie loves seeing students' tremendous growth in all areas over the school year.
In addition to being a certified teacher, Lorie is also a speech-language pathologist (SLP). Before joining ACCESS, she taught a language-impaired class for kindergarten. She also worked in the public school system as an SLP. Lorie came to ACCESS after retiring from the Tri-District Early Childhood Program. Lorie transitioned back into the classroom because ACCESS's original, innovative curriculum reignited her love for being a classroom teacher.
Lorie's favorite part of working at ACCESS is being involved with her students and families and making a difference in their lives. Lorie has lived in Arkansas all of her adult life and is an avid Razorback fan. Lorie has two grown daughters and four grandchildren, two of whom attendACCESS. She enjoys spending her free time playing with her grandchildren and traveling with her husband
Job Titles:
- Kindergarten Transition Lead Teacher
Mary Stuart McRae is currently a lead teacher for Kindergarten Transition at the ACCESS Early Childhood program. Mary Stuart has been with ACCESS since 2011, recently celbrating her 10 year anniversary with the orgranization. Times flies when you're having fun!
A native of Little Rock, Mary Stuart graduated from Mount St. Mary Academy and went on to the University of Arkansas, where she graduated with a degree in education. She was a member of Pi Beta Phi sorority. After college graduation, Mary Stuart taught second grade at The Anthony School for five years and met some wonderful friends! After taking a ten-year break from teaching to focus on a growing art business, she missed working with children and knew ACCESS was where she wanted to be! Mary Stuart joined the ACCESS Academy team as a lower school teacher where she taught for ten years. In 2022, after a lot of thought and prayer, Mary Stuart decided to transfer from her job as an Academy teacher to become a teacher at the Early Childhood campus. She loves everything about her new job!
Other than teaching, her two dachshunds, Mary Olive & Ali, are the loves of her life and are a tad bit spoiled. (They get Sonic every Saturday!)
Matt Biedron is currently the lead teacher for the Intemediate/Upper classroom. Matt loves to see his students grow and mature during their time in his classroom. Matt believes that movement and physical education are integral to academic, social, and personal growth, and he incorporates into his classroom curriculum on a daily basis. Matt's experience of working with students with differing abilities and strengths has allowed him to reach many students and help them achieve their maximum potential.
Prior to joining ACCESS, Matt was a baseball coach at Pulaski Academy and is still involved with baseball giving pitching lessons at Proformance Sports Academy in the evenings.
Melanie Cummings, B.A. joined the ACCESS team over 12 years ago and currently a Pre-K 3 lead teacher in the ACCESS Early Childhood program. Melanie found her way to ACCESS after working as a corporate trainer and stay-at-home mom. Her own experience as an "ACCESS mom" led her to adopt the ACCESS mission as her own. She credits the multi-sensory, therapeutic, team approach as being a crucial part of her child's success. As an English major and self-proclaimed bookworm, Melanie adores the literacy-based curriculum that instills a lifelong appreciation for literature even in early childhood.
Melanie finds joy every day watching her students explore and grow into their best selves. When she is not teaching, Melanie loves to read, explore the great outdoors, and travel with her husband and teenage son.
Job Titles:
- Early Childhood 2 Lead Teacher
Melissa O'Connor is the newest member of the Pre-K 4 lead teaching team, but not new to ACCESS. Melissa has been both a teacher's assistant and interim teacher in both Pre-K 3 and Pre-K 4 classrooms.
Melissa's educational background includes undergraduate work in speech-language pathology, training as an Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) Specialist, and Curriculum Adaptation Consultant. After working for several years, Melissa took time to raise her three children before returning to ACCESS.
Melissa enjoys playing and teaching tennis, as well as spending time with her husband Kinney of 23 years and her children. Melissa's favorite part of teaching at ACCESS is watching her students grow socially and academically and witnessing their sense of self develop within them.
Job Titles:
- Director of Clinical Operations
Job Titles:
- Director of Early Childhood, Co - Founder
Olivia Bennett is hte Lower 1 Lead Teacher at the ACCESS Academy. Initially, ACCESS was just going to be a summer job for Olivia, but soon after she started, she realized how much she loved the positive impact that ACCESS has on children's lives and wanted to be a part of that mission full time. She was a teacher's assistant for 5 years and has been the lead teacher in the Lower 1 classroom since 2020.
Olivia enjoys watching her students experience new things through the hands-on, immersive curriculum the Lower 1 team has built. One of her favorite things to teach is the chicken unit. Each year, her class learns about the life cycle of a chicken by studying eggs as they incubate, watching the chicks hatch, and nurturing the chicks until they are old enough to move into the chicken coup... all taking place right in the classroom!
In her free time Olivia enjoys traveling, reading books, and spending time with family.
Rachel Owen has been part of the ACCESS Academy team for four years and is currently the Lead Teacher for Intermediate 1. Rachel loves using the sensory-rich curriculum at ACCESS to build an engaging and positive classroom culture. She enjoys getting to know her students' unique talents and creating opportunities for them to realize their potential.
Rachel holds a Bachelor of Arts in English - Secondary Education and has trained in the Dubard Association Method. Rachel's love for teaching extends into the community where she is a certified yoga teacher and aerial acrobatics coach for children and adults. Her favorite part of working at ACCESS is supporting her students' growth in academics and social-emotional health. When she is not teaching, she loves to spend time with her family, travel, and stay involved in the arts.
Job Titles:
- Kindergarten Transition Lead Teacher
Job Titles:
- Director of Administrative Operations
Job Titles:
- Co - Founder
- Executive Director
Job Titles:
- AERC Clinical Services Coordinator