Child Development Specialists
Robin Brooks, MSW
Robin has a Master’s Degree in Social Work with a specialty in Children and Families. She has worked in early intervention for 28 years, predominantly in Wake County. Robin has a wide range of experience working with children with various developmental disabilities including Down Syndrome and Cerebral Palsy as well as children born prematurely, who are medically fragile or are showing global delays. She especially enjoys babies and is available to provide once-a-month developmental therapy services to children at high risk for delays. Robin is committed to the ‘team’ approach, working closely with parents/family members as well as other therapists who are serving the child. Robin brainstorms with parents on strategies to help children learn during everyday routines at home.
Robin has her Infant/Toddler/Family Specialist Certification with the State of North Carolina. She provides developmental therapy services on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, & Thursdays.
Erin Garrett, MSW
Immediately following the acquisition of her BSW from ASU in 1999, Erin served as a crisis counselor to children and their families. Afterwards, she focused her career on working with children, ages birth to three, who exhibited global developmental delays. Erin received her Master’s in Social Work in 2004. While earning her MSW at ECU, and immediately thereafter, Erin gained experience working with children experiencing emotional and behavioral challenges through her support of foster care and play therapy services. Most recently, and prior to the birth of her first child, she coordinated the early intervention program (ECHOES) for Easter Seals UCP in Wake County. In addition to supervising early intervention staff, Erin served children with a wide range of needs, including: cognition, speech, motor skills, and social/emotional development. Erin particularly enjoys guiding families through a variety of discipline techniques to support social/emotional/behavioral development. She also has experience working with parents who have developmental disabilities around parenting issues. Erin provides developmental therapy in Holly Springs, Willow Spring & Fuquay-Varina; and currently resides in Southern Wake County with her husband and two daughters.
Erin has her Infant/Toddler/Family Specialist Certification with the State of North Carolina. She is available to provide developmental therapy services on Fridays.
Jessica Erceg, BS
Jessica has been working with children, both typically and atypically developing, since August 2002. While working for Easter Seals UCP, an inclusive child care program, she gained experience working with many different disabilities. Since working there she has moved on to other day care centers working with other children. Jessica graduated from Mount Olive College in 2007 with her Bachelor of Science Degree in Early Childhood Education. She continues to work full time for a child care center, as the lead teacher of a two year old class.
Jessica is working toward full certification with the NC Infant/Toddler Program. In addition to working with children, Jessica has her own little guy. Her son, RJ, was born in March 2008. Jessica loves spending time with her family.
Jessica is available to provide developmental therapy services (CBRS) to families in Fuquay-Varina, Willow Springs, Garner and eastern Wake County. She is available for late afternoon, early evening, and weekend sessions only.
Mary Lou Gelblum, PhD
Mary Lou has worked at Tammy Lynn Center for over eight years, but has been 'in the field' forever, having grown up with a sister diagnosed with mental retardation, autism and cerebral palsy. She enjoys working with all little ones with delays, and their caregivers, and uses her education (Masters in Special Ed from Univ. of Washington, Seattle, and PhD in Early Childhood from UNC) to offer a variety of approaches. As a developmental therapist she is familiar with applied behavior analysis, sensory integration techniques, floor play, picture-exchange communication systems (PECS) and TEACCH among others. Over the past 5 years, she has developed special interests in behavior problems, autism and Down Syndrome. Mary Lou also has experience and interest in working with multiples. She is committed to helping children achieve their goals and families gain structure and knowledge.
Mary Lou has her Infant/Toddler/Family Specialist Certification with the State of North Carolina. She usually serves the central Raleigh area.
Janet Young, BSW
Janet has 17 years experience working with children and families. Prior to coming to North Carolina, she spent more than a decade in the Los Angeles area serving at risk families and children from diverse backgrounds. Janet has served as a special advocate for children 0-4 (many with special needs and those deemed medically fragile), assessing needs and making recommendations for services and supports through the Children’s Court system. Janet joined the Tammy Lynn EI team in 2006. As a Child Development Specialist she has a wide range of experience helping children with developmental challenges, including those with Down Syndrome, Autism, Speech delays and behavioral issues. Janet works with children in their natural environments which includes in home, recreational and daycare settings.
Janet has her Infant, Toddler & Family Specialist Certification from the State of North Carolina. She serves families in downtown & central Raleigh and east & southeast Raleigh.
Occupational Therapist
Ellen Canavan, MS,OT/L
Ellen received her Occupational Therapy degree from UNC Chapel Hill. She has a background in teaching K-5 before receiving her Masters. Ellen has 20 yrs. of experience with children and adults with special needs at the Tammy Lynn Center. She has worked with the TLC Early Intervention team during the last 5 years, serving children ages birth to 3 in the community. Prior to working at TLCDD she worked in the public schools with a wide range of children with mild to moderate levels of learning disabilities, physical disabilities, autism, and mild to moderately intellectually challenged children. Her primary areas of interest are feeding therapy, fine motor skill acquisition, and sensory processing. Ellen keeps current with other aspects of OT for adults, and enjoys working with people on ADL’s (activities of daily living). She has interests outside of OT in being outdoors in nature, dancing, and traveling. She serves the east Cary and west Raleigh areas.
Speech & Language Therapist
Julie E. Rockefeller, MS, CCC-SLP
Julie holds a bachelor’s and a master’s degree in Speech Language Pathology. With 3 years of supervised educational clinical training and 9 years of practice in the field, Julie has gathered a wide variety of experiences as a permanent and traveling therapist. She has worked with children and adults of all ages from infancy to old age. In addition, she has worked in a variety of settings, including public schools; center-based schools for children with special needs; natural environments, such as homes and daycare centers; preschools; residences and group homes for children with a variety of emotional and physical needs; hospitals and private clinics. Julie has particular interest, training and experience with early intervention, augmentative and alternative communication (i.e., high tech and low tech), feeding therapy and oral motor therapy. In addition, she has worked extensively with providing language enrichment; incorporating therapy goals from other disciplines (e.g., sensory integration, fine or gross motor needs); creating appropriate activities for small groups and classrooms; and coordinating therapy goals with classrooms, families and residential staff. Julie has worked with children diagnosed with autism, Down Syndrome, Angelman Syndrome, Pervasive Developmental Disorder, Cerebral Palsy, agenesis of the corpus callosum, shaken baby syndrome, traumatic brain injury, congenital blindness, cortical blindness, hearing impairment, schizophrenia, failure to thrive, fluency disorder, apraxia, articulation disorder, language delay, dyslexia, learning disorders, behavioral feeding disorder and oral phase dysphagia, among other diagnoses.