Marcus Institute

Dr. Roy Sanders is the Medical Director of the Pediatric Neurodevelopmental Center and Psychiatric Services at the Marcus Autism Center in Atlanta, Georgia. He currently serves as Associate Medical Director of the center and is also an Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at Emory University School of Medicine. After training, Dr. Sanders continued on faculty with Vanderbilt University working with developmentally disabled children and adults, as well as several other specialty populations. Additionally, he taught at the medical school specializing in subjects related to sexuality in disabled and chronically ill persons. He was involved in teaching emergency psychiatric care to interns and residents, and he was the director of the Schizophrenia Clinic at Vanderbilt. In 1993, Dr. Sanders became the medical director for the Mental Health Cooperative in Nashville. Over six years he was instrumental in leading the effort to create a comprehensive system of care for chronically mentally ill adults and children that included outpatient, in-patient, and mobile crisis care for the city. He continued as adjunct faculty at Vanderbilt and was involved in research and teaching at Vanderbilt as well as Meharry Medical School, East Tennessee College of Medicine, and the University of Tennessee School of Social Work.

Angela Pruett serves as a case manager at Clinic 4 Kidz. She has been working with children with special needs including those children with severe maladaptive behaviors and pediatric feeding disorders since 2001 under the supervision of highly educated clinicians at the Marcus Institute. Angela graduated with a BS in Psychology from Kennesaw State University in 2000 and plans to further her education in the field of applied behavior analysis through graduate studies in the future. Angela has been a co-author on numerous articles published in the Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis and has presented research in the area of pediatric feeding disorders at several professional conferences throughout the U.S. and Canada.

Dr. Elles Taddeo has taken training in all five levels of Instrumental Enrichment (both Standard and Basic) through SCEL, and has also had both level of LPAD, beginning her LPAD training in Israel with Professor Feuerstein. Most recently, at ICELP Training in Amsterdam and in London, she completed both levels of training required to become a Certified Trainer for Instrumental Enrichment. Dr. Taddeo is an Education Specialist with the Marcus Institute in Atlanta, Georgia. She also works as a private practitioner with the Instrumental Enrichment program, and administers the LPAD assessment.

Susan Fontenot has Bachelors of Sciences in Biological Science and Psychology from Louisiana State University. For the past two years, Susan has worked at The Marcus Institute treating children with Autism Spectrum Disorders and Emotional Behavior Disorders. She learned how to evaluate and treat children who engage in severe problem behavior using applied behavior analysis techniques, and also treat children with language and learning delays using the verbal behavior approach. She has worked closely with speech, occupational, and physical therapists to aid in the growth of children. She is currently pursuing a Master's Degree in Educational Psychology and Special Education from Georgia State University. Upon graduation, she plans on working with schools special education teachers to better server the special needs population. Susan was drawn to the Hirsch Academy due to the individualized education and loving environment provided to the students. She is excited to join the Hirsch Academy due to their unique approach in dealing with children. She also is eager to learn different techniques in dealing with children in the classroom, and also learn from the experienced professionals who truly have a love for their students.