ĀÜĄņĀŅĀ×

Suzanne is dually certified as an Audiologist and a Speech-Language Pathologist. She worked at the Baton Rouge Speech and Hearing Foundation for 14 years in the 2000ā€™s. After several years of providing Early Steps therapy through her own agency, she returned ā€œhomeā€ to The Emerge Center in January of 2014. Suzanne conducts evaluations for The Emerge Center three days a week and sees Early Steps clients in their homes and child care centers two days a week. Suzanneā€™s special focus throughout her career has been developing language and listening skills for children who have hearing loss of all degrees. Her fluent sign language skills have been useful for deaf children, as well as children with Autism Spectrum Disorder, Childhood Apraxia of Speech, Down Syndrome, or other challenges which benefit from a visual system of communication. She has also studied and implemented the use of the Picture Exchange Communication System with multiple children who are non-verbal. Suzanne considers it a privilege to be the first professional that some parents interact with as they begin the journey of discovering their childā€™s strengths and weaknesses in the areas of engagement, play, speech and language.