ACE Staff

Our Executive Director, Advocates, Tutors and Volunteers

Brenda

Brenda Rogers MA/ABD | Executive Director / Advocate

Brenda earned her Bachelors Degree in Criminology, Law and Society in 1998 from UC Irvine, a Masters Degree, from UCI, in 2001 and advanced to candidacy for a Ph.D. in sociology in 2003. Brenda has been teaching at several Southern California Universities since 2001 and has been advocating for disabled students since 1998. After founding Access Center in 2004, Brenda expanded her specialization from learning disabilities and hyperactivity, to emotional disturbances, developmental disabilities and speech and language disorders. In 2005, Brenda created the IEP Game and has been training professionals and parents around the country in non-legal educational advocacy with the IEP Game case analysis method.

Brenda has trained professionals and parents at: at the Consortium for Appropriate Dispute Resolution in Special Education, the International Learning Disabilities Association, The National Organization for Disorders of the Corpus Callosum, The Council of Parent Attorneys and Advocates, Orange County Social Services, LA County Housing Authority, UCLA Teacher Training Program, Yorba Linda School District, and the Americore Teacher Training Program.

Advocates

Linda

Linda Simpson MBA

Linda Dorey Simpson has an undergraduate degree from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and an MBA from Simmons College in Boston. She worked seven years as a social worker and worked as a systems analyst and project leader for several major corporations over the past twenty years. She is the parent of two adopted children, both with learning disabilities. Linda has also written a book about the IEP process entitled A Bigger Boat: Surviving the Treacherous Waters of the IEP Process.

Linda has been with ACE, in differing capacities, since 2005. Linda was a board member until early 2007 and has moved into an advocacy position. Linda's advocacy strengths are in Learning Disabilities, behavioral disorders, emotional disturbances and Autism.

Lori Boehm

Lori has a Bachelors Degree in Special Education from Cal State University Fullerton. Lori has over 20 years advocacy experience with children and students that have developmental disabilities and has been successfully helping parents navigate the Regional Center system for decades. Lori has transitioned to special education advocacy within public schools over the past five years and is a valuable new asset to our Access Center team of advocates.