Article archive / August 1, 2013
Originally published: . Volume 4, No. 12. Source pages: 14.
Dr. Brian Esteve and his colleagues at Baton Rouge Speech & Hearing Foundation are getting ready for big changes coming in 2014. This past January the Foundation broke ground at Innovation Park, LSU’s new complex opening next spring.
The Foundation, one of the most respected service organizations in the region, will be donning a new face and a new name. The new 26,000- square-foot facility will be called The Emerge Center for Communication, Behavior & Development.
“We will triple the number of clients we are able to serve,” Esteve told the Times. “We offer a variety of pediatric services and I oversee our autism program,” he said. “It is an interdisciplinary program that involves applied behavior analysis, speech therapy and occupational therapy.”
Esteve is the full-time psychologist and behavior analyst on staff, and joined by part-time psychologists, Dr. Jane Morton, who oversees home-based ABA services, and Dr. Emily Boudreaux who provides a variety of evaluation and therapeutic services and who specializes in developmental disabilities. Also behavior analyst, Katie Barlow, supervises ABA programs.
The new Center will be able to double the number of children served in the group speech program and increase the number of children in the Autism program from 46 to 100 in about five years, according to LSU news.
The staff at the Emerge Center will continue to offer evidence-based therapies to children and adults with communication difficulties from the Greater Baton Rouge area and across Southern Louisiana, regardless of their ability to pay, just as Baton Rouge Speech & Hearing has for decades.
Dr. Brian Esteve explained to the Times his unique history with Baton Rouge Speech & Hearing. He worked as a graduate assistant in the autism program from 2005-2007 under the mentorship of George Noell, PhD, LSU professor and licensed school psychologist. After completing an internship with Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center, Esteve rejoined the staff at BR Speech & Hearing in 2008 as supervisor of Applied Behavior Analysis services. Because of this, he has had the opportunity to see the autism program grow from a small pilot program, consisting of four children, to the comprehensive program it is today.
Dr. Esteve is a Louisiana native, a licensed school psychologist and a board certified behavior analyst.
He is the Chairperson for the Board of Directors for Families Helping Families of Greater Baton Rouge, is a non-profit, family directed resource center for individuals with disabilities and their families. Along with their many community services and activities, Families Helping Families hosts the annual “Active for Autism 5K Run/Walk & Fun Fest” held annually to benefit The Resource Center for Autism Spectrum Disorders, one of the organization’s programs.
The new Emerge Center will be the first tenant in the new complex dedicated for research commercialization by Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge campus.
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