Ellen Somer Jacobs, MS, CCC-SLP
“The goal of my work is to empower, guide and support families of children with special needs so their children may grow and develop to their potential. Having the honor of sharing my specific professional expertise with children and their families for many years has been gratifying and fulfilling.”
Ellen Somer Jacobs, MS, is a pediatric speech-language pathologist specializing in the evaluation of children with communication disorders.
She obtained her master’s degree from the University of Wisconsin in Madison where she specialized in language developmental and language disorders. She completed her clinical fellowship year at United Cerebral Palsy in Utica, NY where she worked with children with neurodevelopmental disabilities. In 1976, Ms. Jacobs moved to Louisville and worked at the Child Evaluation Center at the University of Louisville Department of Pediatrics. She worked as the Chief Speech-Language Pathologist on a multi-disciplinary team evaluating youngsters with neurodevelopmental, behavioral, genetic, and learning challenges. She helped establish the Center’s first Early Intervention Program, Autism Program, and the speech-language pathology service at Kosair Children’s Hospital and the neonatal intensive care program there. After moving to Rhode Island in 1997, Ms. Jacobs joined the Pediatric program at the Child Development Center at Hasbro Children’s Hospital. While continuing her work as a member of a multi-disciplinary team evaluating children, she also served as Program Manager of the hospital’s first Early Intervention Program. In addition, Ms. Jacobs worked with a private practice group in RI providing additional multi-disciplinary evaluations.
Ms. Jacobs was honored by the Kentucky Speech-Language Hearing Association, receiving the American Speech and Hearing Association (ASHA) Foundation’s Clinical Achievement Award. She also received Honors of the Association. Ms. Jacobs served as Chair of the KY State Board of Examiners in Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology for 2 terms, and she also was appointed to a number of state committees in KY and RI to help develop services for children and their families.
Ms. Jacobs returned to Louisville in 2021 when she joined Square One. Her special area of expertise is in providing evaluations of pre-school children and school-aged youngsters with language and literacy challenges. Her evaluations include, when appropriate, measures of early literacy, phonological awareness, comprehension of spoken language, verbal expressive skills, social communication, and written language. The link between listening, speaking, reading, and writing is a critical part of the evaluation process.