MEET OUR THERAPISTS

Ashley Romero, M.S., CCC-SLP

Owner and Speech-Language Pathologist

Ashley is native of New Jersey, but now calls South Florida her home. She received her Bachelor’s degree from the University of Maryland in Hearing and Speech Sciences and Public Relations. Prior to becoming a speech-language pathologist, Ashley worked in an ABA-based school in New Jersey where she worked with Pre-K and elementary aged children on the autism spectrum. This is where she discovered her passion. Ashley went on to earn her Master’s Degree in Speech Language Pathology from Florida Atlantic University. While completing her Master’s, Ashley continued to provide ABA therapy and completed the requirements to become a BCBA (certification pending).

Prior to founding Bridging the Pieces Therapy, Ashley worked in a variety of settings including charter and private schools, hospitals, and outpatient clinics. She is motivated to provide successful therapy that is enjoyable to her clients and family. She is also a PROMPT-trained therapist.

Ashley is a licensed speech-language pathologist and is credentialed through the American Speech Language and Hearing Association (ASHA). She has a passion for helping children improve their speech and language skills to promote effective and functional communication.

Heather Engel, M.S., OTR/L

Occupational Therapist

Heather is a licensed and registered Occupational Therapist who holds a Bachelor of Health Science degree from the University of Florida and a Master of Science degree in Occupational Therapy from Florida Gulf Coast University. Since graduating in 2015 she has served children from infancy through school-age with neurological, chromosomal, and developmental delays. She has experience working within various outpatient and hospital settings, including neonatal intensive care and early intervention programs. Her specialty areas include infant and toddler development, school-related skills, handwriting, feeding, and sensory. Specific diagnoses include autism spectrum disorder, down syndrome, developmental delay, and sensory processing disorder. Heather focuses on an interdisciplinary approach of parents, teachers, therapists, and medical professionals for success in everyday environments and routines

Lauren Piccione, MOT, OTR/L

Occupational Therapist

Lauren is a New Jersey native as well as a licensed and registered Occupational Therapist holding a Bachelor of Science from the University of South Florida and Master of Occupational Therapy from Nova Southeastern University. She has experience completing her Level II clinical rotation in a pediatric outpatient clinic setting assisting children from ages 3-21. Lauren enjoys creating occupation-based interventions through play to meet the goals of each client and their family for maximum potential in school, home, and in the community.

Hanna Eugenio, M.S., CCC-SLP

Speech-Language Pathologist

Hanna is originally from Tallahassee, where she earned both her Bachelor’s degree in Communication Science and Disorders and her Master’s degree in Speech-Language Pathology from Florida State University. She has experience working with children of all ages in various settings. Hanna also has five years of experience conducting research within the field of communication science and disorders. She is a coauthor of one published research article and is currently contributing to other articles within the field. Hanna is a Natural Language Acquistion Trained Clinician for gestalt language learners. During her graduate career, Hanna moved to South Florida to complete her final clinical internship at Bridging the Pieces. She loved the clients and team so much that she officially moved down to join the Bridging the Pieces family.

Halie Henshaw, M.S., CCC-SLP

Speech-Language Pathologist

Alyssa Ager, B.S., SLP-A

Speech-Language Pathologist Assistant

Alyssa was born and raised in South Florida. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Communication Sciences and Disorders from the University of Central Florida and has begun graduate coursework towards a Master’s in Speech Language Pathology at Florida Atlantic University. She is currently in the process of completing her masters in speech language pathology through the University of St. Augustine. She moved to Chicago for a number of years, where she worked in a Reggio Emilia based private school, before returning to South Florida as a pediatric clinician. Prior to joining our team at Bridging the Pieces, Alyssa worked as an SLPA in outpatient pediatric clinics, preschools and most recently, teletherapy. In both prior clinical positions, Alyssa developed and led social groups for children to attain, maintain and generalize social skills, as she is passionate about helping children to develop and share their social world. Her experience includes expressive/receptive language disorders, articulation delays, fluency disorder, ASD, apraxia of speech, Down syndrome, Turner syndrome, and cerebral palsy, working with ESL preschoolers and AAC. Alyssa is wholeheartedly invested in serving and advocating for children with varying exceptionalities. She enjoys working with families and a multidisciplinary team to provide the most effective care for her patients and providing treatments that are both fun and functional for each child.

Desirae Garnett, MS, OTR/L

Occupational Therapist

Desirae is originally from Scranton, Pennsylvania and moved to Florida in 2021. She graduated from Misericordia University with her Master’s Degree in occupational therapy. She has experience working with children across many settings including home-based, PPEC, school-based, and outpatient. She has a passion for helping children of all ages and abilities do all the things they need and want to do as independently as possible. She uses child-led play to address functional goals in the areas of sensory processing, fine motor/visual motor skills, attention, activities of daily living, reflex integration, and executive functioning.