Ellen Chaplan Jannol completed her Bachelor’s degree in Sociology at Pitzer College in Claremont, California.  While at Pitzer Ellen spent her junior year abroad at Waseda University in Tokyo, Japan.  She also interned both at the Pomona Valley Hospice, and Planned Parenthood of Pomona where she worked with adults with developmental disabilities.  Ellen also holds two Masters degrees: A Masters of Arts in Sociology from the University of California at San Diego, and an MBA in International Business from The Thunderbird School of Global Management in Phoenix, Arizona.

Ellen came to special education advocacy out of necessity beginning in 1996 due to all three of her children being diagnosed on the Autism Spectrum.  Through her involvement in online and local parent support groups, she found herself helping other parents access special education services for their own children, and decided that to better assist those parents, she needed more formalized training.  Ellen successfully completed the Special Education Advocacy Training (SEAT) project in 2008 which included an internship supervised by Mark Woodsmall at the Woodsmall Law Group in Pasadena, California.

Ellen brings with her a strong understanding of children with Specific Learning Disabilities, Autism Spectrum Disorders, and medically related issues that impact a student’s ability to access their educational curriculum. Ellen now serves as the primary Educational Advocate for the Juvenile Mental Health Court in Los Angeles.

In her spare time, Ellen enjoys raising foster puppies for a local rescue, hanging with her own dogs and family, gardening, traveling, and binge watching shows on tv.