Meet The Team

Urania is a bilingual dual credentialed speech-language pathologist and behavior analyst.  Urania has over 19 years of experience in the field of speech pathology.  She graduated from Florida International University with a Bachelors in Psychology and in 2004 she graduated with a Master of Science in Speech Language Pathology. In 2014 she pursued a career in Applied Behavior Analysis and became a certified behavior analyst.   Urania opened S.L.B Therapy in 2006 with the vision of one day becoming interdisciplinary.  In 2008 S.L.B Therapy added occupational and physical therapy services. Soon after, Urania led S.L.B Therapy into adding applied behavior analysis services.  Urania believes that children excel to their maximum potential by implementing behavior strategies alongside speech, OT, and PT interventions.  Urania is trained in PROMPT, PECs, Oral motor, use in AAC, and early intervention.  Urania’s passion is providing services to children with severe maladaptive behaviors.  

Patricia “Patty” Causo is a lead BCBA at SLB Therapy Inc. She received her Masters of Science degree in Counselor Education: Clinical Mental Health Counseling Track from Florida International University in 2018 and continued her education into applied behavior analysis. She has been in the field of ABA for over 10 years with experience in early intervention, autism spectrum disorder, severe disruptive behaviors and more. She is also a licensed Speech Language Pathologist Assistant with training in PECS and the Handwriting Without Tears Program.

Yessenia Duran is a Board-Certified Behavior Analyst with 10+ years of experience working with neurodivergent children and their families. Yessenia developed her passion in the field of behavior analysis while working at Florida International University’s Early Intensive Behavioral Intervention Program (EIBI); a program focused on teaching and improving verbal communication, adaptive living, and pre-academic skills to children (16 months – 15 years old) with the diagnosis of autism or other developmental disorders. Shortly after in 2013, Yessenia graduated from Florida International University (FIU) with a Bachelor's Degree in Psychology and a minor in Behavior Analysis.

Yessenia continued her career path by providing behavioral therapy to children diagnosed with autism that displayed a variety of challenging behaviors such as aggression, noncompliance, tantrums, picky eating, and poor verbal communication skills.  In May 2014, she became a Board-Certified Assistant Behavior Analyst (BCaBA). Yessenia then obtained her Master of Science in Counselor Education with a track in Clinical Mental Health Counseling from FIU in 2016 and in May 2021 she became a Board-Certified Behavior Analyst (BCBA).

Within her years of experience, she has worked on helping clients acquire the needed skills to become independent in society. In addition, she uses her mental health background to teach self-management (self-regulation) skills to kids with low-support ASD who struggle with anxiety, self-esteem, or social skills deficits. Yessenia also teaches parents the skills they need to manage their child's behavior and leaves them with a sense of empowerment and self-efficacy.

Currently, Yessenia is a lead behavior analyst at S.L.B Therapy and provides training and guidance to behavioral technicians and assistant behavior analysts. Furthermore, Yessenia develops unique behavioral support plans that teach functional/appropriate replacement behaviors and reduce maladaptive behaviors. 

Emelyn Ruiz has been a BCaBA at SLB Therapy for the past four years. Emelyn has been providing 1:1 therapy to children with autism and related disabilities since 2008 and has been providing supervision to RBTs since 2014. Upon completing her bachelor’s degree in psychology in 2009, she began working as an intern in the ABA field. Her greatest accomplishments have been being able to provide families with the appropriate tools to assist their children in their communication skills across others and understanding their children's behaviors. Emelyn has enjoyed working with various children and families in teaching them how to increase their children’s communication as well as working side by side with RBTs and teaching them how to implement interventions that would help these children and their families create the right opportunity for these children to communicate and engage in appropriate behaviors. For Emelyn, it has always been about combining the right team between RBTs, caregivers, and their children. Emelyn will be beginning her M.Ed. in applied behavior analysis degree this Fall semester. 

Andy graduated from Florida International University with a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology. Following graduation, he became a Board Certified assistant Behavior Analyst. Prior to becoming a BCaCA, he worked for over 6 years as a Registered Behavior Technician. Throughout the years, ABA services have been provided to children, teenagers, and adults. Working at SLB therapy, he has acquired experience alongside amazing therapists in decreasing severe maladaptive behaviors and replacing them with appropriate and alternative replacement behaviors. He has experience in teaching and training  clients how to use different forms of communication such as, AAC and PECs. In order to ensure the safety of our clients and staff, PCM certification and CPR certification is currently held and renewed yearly. His goal in therapy is to provide the best quality of service for all clients.

Adriana is a committed BCaBA driven by a profound passion to make a meaningful impact on families' lives. Starting her journey in Psychology, she discovered the profound influence that ABA could have. Presently, she is actively advancing her skills through the M.A. Behavior Analysis program at the Florida Institute of Technology. Her dedication extends beyond individual sessions, recognizing the significant role families play in the therapeutic process. Adriana actively advocates for fostering collaboration, communication, and support through behavior therapy, aiming to create positive and lasting changes.