About Melinda Jennis

ABOUT MELINDA JENNIS:
Melinda Jennis was working with children in the field of physical therapy when her son Jacob was born in 1997. She thought as a professional she understood the families having children with special needs that she worked with. After having her own child with multiple disabilities, she realized how little she understood about the hardships and rewards that come from daily having to parent and advocate for a child with disabilities. She began Pathways for Exceptional Children in January of 2002 as a small parent support group in Montville Township, New Jersey. She realized much more had to be done to get the children with disabilities the educational services, inclusion, and employment readiness they needed to be successful. She set her sights on building a nonprofit organization that would begin to change the conversation about disability from "can't" to "can" and has taught people all over New Jersey and beyond the empowerment that comes from the inclusion of children of all abilities. Melinda is known for her work with the children teaching children model and joined with her daughter Stephanie and other professionals to design classes and training modules that have been used to train over 38,500 children in schools and communities in New Jersey. She lives with her children in Montville Township, New Jersey where her son Jacob recently graduated from high school in 2016. Her son, who has multiple disabilities, is current working independently in a paid position 16 hours a week, will be attending Project Search in the fall 2017, played as a running back on the Montville Township High School football team, and is a lead singer in an inclusive rock band that performed with the Jonas Brothers the summer of 2013.  Melinda currently devotes herself full time to Pathways for Exceptional Children. She is pictured above with her son and daughter. Her motto has always been, " I know my son has disabilities, but I have never allowed him to become disabled. There is no reason not to expect any less than the best from these children and their families! That is when the miracles start happening!"