Autism in Avoyelles: Avoyelles native heads Emerge Center

{Editor’s Note: Autism is a growing concern throughout the nation. There is one existing treatment center in the parish and two proposed centers expected to open later this year. This article looks at an Avoyelles Parish woman who is leading the fight against autism in Baton Rouge.}

Avoyelles’ battle against autism is not just being waged on the home front in this parish. Bordelonville native Melissa Desselle Juneau is taking the fight to the disease as CEO of the Emerge Center in Baton Rouge.

Emerge does a lot of work with children with autism, but also serves children suffering with other disorders and disabilities.

In addition to providing autism treatment and therapy services, the center also operates the Emerge School for Autism, the first charter school for children with autism.

“Autism is a huge issue nationwide and there is a lot of interest in addressing the need for services,” Juneau said. “We at Emerge do this because of the incredible need. I am proud to say that the programs we have developed make an incredible impact in the lives of our clients and their families.”

Juneau lives in Baton Rouge with her husband Matthew, a Cottonport native. They have four grown children and one grandson.

Avoyelles Parish is still home for the 1978 graduate of Bordelonville High. Her mother Janis still lives in Bordelonville and Matt’s father Dick lives in Cottonport. There are also many more family and friends around the parish. Melissa’s father was the late Adam Desselle, a longtime educator and school district administrator in the Avoyelles School System. Matt’s grandmother was Montez Juneau, who was the librarian in Cottonport.

Juneau is a licensed speech/language pathologist with a bachelor’s and master’s degree from LSU. She has over 30 years of experience as a speech therapist working with young children.

Her association with Emerge began in the 1990s as a part-time speech therapist. She was named executive director in 2007.

In between she served as project manager, interim director and industry innovator.

She is credited with changing the former Baton Rouge Speech and Hearing Foundation into the Emerge Center for Communication Behavior and Development in 2014. The non-profit organization serves more than 1,000 clients each year and receive approximately $1 million in support from the community.

“At Emerge, we provide hope to families each and every day through professional diagnoses, treatment, and therapy,” Juneau said. “We are by far the largest therapy provider in our area. Our team of therapists works together and with parents to tailor treatment plans for each child.”

The “generosity of our donors” is a key element in Emerge’s success and “helps us continue to spark every client’s potential to emerge.”

The Emerge Center “empowers children with autism and individuals with communication challenges to achieve independence through innovative and family-centered therapies,” Juneau continued. “Our model of coordinated and integrated therapies under one roof is unparalleled.”

She said Emerge is a “thought leader in our community, dedicated to providing access to care to those who need our services.”

The “under one roof” approach refers to the center’s decision to offer a number of services to address the conditions of their clients and the clients’ families.

“Not only does this reduce stress for family members and caregivers, but our team treatment approach allows for the best possible success for our patients and clients,” Juneau said. “Our staff collaborates with each other and with families in an intentional way to produce the best possible success for every child and adult that comes through our doors.”

She said the center is a “one-stop-shop for communication, behavior and developmental difficulties. We open our doors as wide as we can, to allow as many as possible to come, and that is what inspires me every day.”

Emerge is “a jewel in the southeast part of the country,” Juneau said. “We serve over 30 parishes and 11 Mississippi counties.”

The center is also a model for other treatment centers throughout the Southeast and beyond.

Juneau said she is familiar with both of the new autism treatment centers proposed for the parish -- Fynn’s Wish and Beyond A Spectrum -- and is willing to provide any advice, guidance and assistance she can to ensure the ventures are successful.

Juneau said Emerge tries to walk the line between being a non-profit center that provides services to those with limited resources, while also operating as a competitive business.

Emerge excepts Medicaid plans and many commercial insurance plans, as well as private pay patients.

“We consistently receive feedback from our patients’ families that they are pleased with our staff’s compassionate nature and expertise,” Juneau said. “We are so thankful to be a part of these families’ lives and to help make a difference in any way we can.”