Lori earned her Master of Speech Pathology from James Madison University in 1991 and her Bachelor of Science in Communication Disorders from East Carolina University in 1989. With diverse and expansive experience of over 30 years, she brings a vast amount of expertise to LKN Speech Language Pathology. She has worked in a wide array of settings as a clinician and a leader including hospitals, outpatient therapy rehabilitation centers, private schools, neurofeedback clinics, private practice, assisted living, and memory care facilities providing speech and language therapy serving all ages and disorders of speech-language pathology. Lori is passionate about improving speech, language, communication, and cognition in children, teenagers, and adults with neurologic disorders such as head trauma, stroke, dementia, Parkinson’s, post-concussion syndrome, ADHD, language learning disorders such as dyslexia and auditory processing disorders, and swallowing disorders.

Lori also offers a unique skill set in working with teens who experience executive function disorders and struggle with ADHD and anxiety. She believes in using an integrated approach in treating her client’s “spirit, mind and body.” This includes gathering information from doctors, parents, and teachers, along with interviewing the client, and observing them at home and school. Her therapy is based on working with each patient’s areas of difficulty and providing skilled interventions, strategies, and tools to manage these challenges. Along with specific treatment strategies, she also works with healthy eating, sleep patterns, exercise, and other ways to support a healthy brain. Lori is a certified yoga instructor and certified mindful educator, a skill set that merges effectively with her profession as a speech-language pathologist.

Lori is also a mother of 2 young adult children and understands the joys and challenges of parenting which carries over into her practice with families. She believes “our teens are our future, and they need a toolbox to manage stress in today’s world. All kids, despite learning differences, deserve the chance to be happy and successful!”

Marissa is passionate about helping people achieve their full potential to communicate and connect with the world around them. She has worked in a variety of pediatric settings, including public schools, multidisciplinary clinics and private practice. Marissa has been seeing clients for LKN Speech Language Pathology since September of 2021.

She has worked extensively with preschool age clients targeting articulation and language skills as well as high school students to develop their social language skills, fluency and functional communication using augmentative and alternative communication. In addition, she has helped pediatric clients to improve literacy through enrichment programs for at-risk students in classroom settings. Marissa is experienced in providing therapy for a variety of diagnoses including articulation, language, fluency, literacy, pragmatics, and functional communication.

Lisa graduated from the University of South Florida with a master’s degree in speech language pathology in 1997 after graduating from Florida State University with her bachelor’s degree in communication science and Disorders. She is ASHA certified and NC licensed and has been serving LKN-SLP clients since April of 2024. She specializes in pediatrics and has excelled in her field as both a therapist and clinical supervisor. Before partnering with LKN Speech Language Pathology she served as a Clinical Specialist for a hospital outpatient rehab for the Cabarrus region. Lisa began her career in Florida working for a pediatric hospital in outpatient rehab and was given specialty training and a seat on the CAPD planning board committee, served as a member of the Craniofacial team, and assisted in radiographic evaluations for velopharyngeal insufficiency. Deciding to take time out of clinical work to raise her children, was a difficult decision, but one she treasures and values as she had the opportunity to spend quality time with her family and grow in empathy and understanding for returning to her field from the perspective of motherhood. She returned to clinical work seven years ago in a local private practice that offered interdisciplinary collaboration with Occupational Therapists and discovered her love for children with autism spectrum disorders.

Lisa’s treatment style is relationship-centered, and she prioritizes creating a place of joy and safety to introduce new ways of communicating and learning. She adapts her approach from a fun-loving play companion with her youngest clients who are learning to speak their first words to a motivational coach and friend to her school-age and adolescent clients who are learning new approaches to reading, spelling, and comprehension. She believes all children need to be seen for their strengths and unique interests and should leave their therapy sessions feeling confident and proud. Lisa has a steadfast dedication to continued self-improvement and growth and continued education across the span of disorders with a sampling of her training including completion of PROMPT training, Oral Placement Therapy with Talk Tools courses, and multimodality cues to expand her treatment skills for articulation/apraxia, Lindamood bell program and phonological manipulation/discrimination training(Words in Noise, Phonemic Synthesis Training program for CAPD, and Floortime therapy Improving Visual and Auditory processing in preschoolers with ASD and is a certified NLA Trained Clinician for autism spectrum and language disorders.

Emily graduated from The College of Saint Rose in Albany, New York with a master’s degree in communication sciences and Disorders in 2006 and received her Bachelor of Science in Communication Sciences and Disorders from Nazareth University in Rochester, New York in 2004. Emily began working with LKN-SLP in 2023 on a part-time basis while she continues to work for Cabarrus County Schools as a lead speech-language pathologist. She has also worked in Massachusetts for UP Education Network and has worked in private practice, home health, and nursing homes. She has also worked in Massachusetts for UP Education Network and has worked in private practice, home health, and nursing homes.

Emily enjoys working with children of all ages but especially enjoys working with older children on language and comprehension skills. In addition, she has a passion for fluency disorders and building up children’s confidence in their communication. Other areas of expertise include hearing impairment and pragmatics/social communications. With over 17 years of experience Emily brings a wealth of knowledge and expertise to our team!

Kaitlyn has been an ASHA certified SLP since 2015. Prior to earning her Master of Science degree in Communication Sciences & Disorders from East Carolina University, Kaitlyn graduated from Appalachian State University with a Bachelor of Science degree, receiving the highest honor of summa cum laude.

While Kaitlyn has experience working in various settings with individuals of all ages, she specializes in working with school-age children and adolescents in providing language and literacy intervention.  Her favorite part of being a speech-language pathologist is instilling confidence in her clients and witnessing them achieve communicative competency in reading, writing, speaking, and listening.  She is skilled in diagnosing and providing treatment for individuals with dyslexia.  She is certified in Structured Literacy, the most effective reading teaching for an individual with a reading or writing disability, via Lexercise.  She is also skilled in providing interventions for a variety of diagnoses, including auditory processing disorder (APD/CAPD), dysgraphia, written expression disorders, expressive-receptive language disorders, fluency, pragmatics, and articulation/phonological disorders.  Kaitlyn has a special interest in orofacial myology and has completed supportive TalkTools trainings (i.e., Foundations of Orofacial Myology & Oral Placement Therapy (OPT)).