Our Why

jen@universalaccessconsulting.com | @JenCTownsend | universalaccessconsulting.com

Jennifer C. Townsend, M.Ed., is an Educational Consultant and the owner of Universal Access Consulting, LLC. Throughout her career she has worked in collaboration with schools, families and other professionals to build collective and individual capacity to enhance practices that support the education of individuals with social emotional learning differences including autism spectrum disorder and related disabilities. Jen’s work focuses on using appreciative inquiry techniques, social emotional learning practices paired with universal design for learning. She is the author of Think Differently: An educator’s approach to appreciate what works and a co-author of Social Emotional Engagement Knowledge and Skills (SEE-KS) and has been a contributing author to other work including Teaching Channel’s Science of Learning: A Practice Approach to Engaging Every Learner, Mesibov, Schopler, and TEACCH: Changing the world for parents and people with autism, A Spectrum of Solutions for Clients with Autism and Social Emotional Learning Competencies for Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction. Jen shares knowledge in a manner that educators, families and other community members can learn and apply specific to their role and skills through professional presentations, keynotes, lectures, writing, collaboration and coaching experiences. She brings to the field of education her experiences in school and home-based programming, social emotional learning and well-being, universal design for learning, trauma informed care, foster-care parenting, professional development and leadership, coaching and mentorship. Jen has a Master of Science in Education from Johns Hopkins University, graduate certification in Autism Spectrum Disorder from Johns Hopkins University and attended University of Wisconsin Eau Claire’s for the Director of Special Education and Pupil Services. She has been an adjunct faculty member at Carroll University and Cardinal Stritch University. Jen Townsend is an active member in the field of education and believes that together we can be the difference when we choose to think differently.

emily@commxroads.com | @EmilyRubin9 | commxroads.com

Emily Rubin, MS, CCC-SLP is the Director of Communication Crossroads in Atlanta, GA, a private practice specialized in providing professional learning focused on helping families, caregivers, and educators create positive learning environments focused on relationships and an appreciation of the neurodiversity of children. She is a speech-language pathologist who is passionate about the relationship between social emotional engagement and the development of language, learning, and well-being. She is a co-author of the SCERTS Model and a co-developer of the Social Emotional Engagement – Knowledge and Skills (SEE-KS). These approaches provide a framework for social emotional engagement and learning that are: 1) ecologically valid to the demands of achieving academic standards, 2) sensitive to the unique needs of students with social learning differences such as autism, and 3) can serve as a universal design for learning that benefits all of students and young children in order to promote positive long-term outcomes. She lectures internationally and provides ongoing technical assistance to school systems and other agencies that care for children and their families.