Nathan Cohen, MS, CCC-SLP, TSHH

Nathan Cohen is a New York State Licensed Speech-Language Pathologist who also possesses a Certificate of Clinical Competency from the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association. In addition, Mr. Cohen possesses a certificate as a Teacher of the Speech and Hearing Handicapped from the State of New York. Mr. Cohen holds a Master’s of Science degree from Brooklyn College of the City University of New York majoring in Speech-Language Pathology.

Upon graduation in 1975, Mr. Cohen has served as a Speech-Language Pathologist in the metropolitan New York City area. However, his main focus has been working with the underserved and disadvantaged populations in the Bronx, New York. For the past 35 years, Mr. Cohen has served on the Health Advisory Boards of several Head Start centers in the Bronx and has  presented workshops and in-service trainings to both parents and staff regarding speech and language development. In addition, Mr. Cohen has provided speech and language therapy to those students requiring the services.  He now coordinates a program with the Head Start where students requiring externships from a local university are now supervised while providing the speech and language services. In 1989, Mr. Cohen was presented with an Award of Honor from the Bronx Head Start Directors acknowledging his many years of service and contributions to the Head Start program.

Mr. Cohen has extensive experience providing services to children with special needs, ranging from those on the autistic spectrum to those with learning disabilities. He has served as a Consulting Speech-Language Pathologist for the Volunteers of America and Love Me Tender Preschools in the Bronx and Prime-Time-For Kids in Rockland County, programs that serve children with a variety of special needs.  As Mr. Cohen is fluent in Spanish, he continues to provide speech and language evaluations for bilingual children transitioning from the Early Intervention (EI) program to the Committee on Preschool Special Education (CPSE) and to assess the need for further services. Mr. Cohen served as the Supervising Speech-Language Pathologist at the Montefiore Medical Group for 23 years, where he provided services to both children and adults presenting with various speech and language disorders. As the clinic was located in the South Bronx area of New York City, the majority of his clients were Spanish speaking and therefore, required the services of a Bilingual Speech-Language Pathologist.

Since 1989, Mr. Cohen has worked at Herbert H. Lehman College- City University of New York, as an Adjunct Professor in the Speech-Language-Hearing Sciences Department. In this capacity, he serves as a clinic supervisor for those students in the graduate program majoring in Speech-Language Pathology. In addition, he has served as the instructor for several undergraduate and graduate courses and externship supervisor for off-site placements. 

Mr. Cohen is currently President of Developmental Delay and Rehabilitation Services, Inc. (D.D.R.S.) an agency providing Early Intervention and Committee on Preschool Special Education Services to children between the ages of 0-5 years. Services are provided by Speech-Language Pathologists, Occupational Therapists, Physical Therapists, Special Educators, Social Workers, and Psychologists on an as needed, home based or school-based service. Referrals are provided by Rockland Orange, and Westchester counties. Besides his duty as President, Mr. Cohen also provides speech-language therapy services for both bilingual and monolingual children and serves as the CFY supervisor for speech therapists providing services as part of their clinical fellowship (CF) training.

Terence Blackwell, BCBA, SAS, CAS

Terence Blackwell is a Board Certified Behavior Analyst, permanently licensed school principal (NY State Education Dept.) and Certified Addictions Specialist. Mr. Blackwell is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, including the Wharton School of Business, Entrepreneurial Studies Division.

Beginning as a direct care staff for developmentally disabled adults in Manhattan, Mr. Blackwell moved into working with severely impaired persons exhibiting behavioral disorders in northern N.J. under the supervision of Dr. Gregg Berstch. Mr. Blackwell directed a large Division of a national non-profit agency in NYC and created a best practices pre-school special education and Early Intervention program in the South Bronx. (In 1996 the “Volunteers of America River Ave. School recognized as a standard of excellence, 1 of only 2 schools in N. Y. City” recognized by the N.Y. in 1997).

In 1992, Mr. Blackwell functioned as a diplomat for the U.S. State Department to the Soviet Union for behavioral practice of substance abuse treatment. Since then, Mr. Blackwell is a parent to three sons, two affected by ASD. (Asperger’s). Terence sought (BCBA) Board Certification in Behavior Analysis on viewing demonstration of the generalization of Skinner’s Analysis of Verbal Behavior. Through consultation with the pre-eminent practitioner of ABA-VB method Dr. Vincent Carbone, Terence implemented a Verbal Behavior with providers of services for adults in NJ as well as in a State approved Early Intervention and Special Education program in NY.

Since 1985 Terence has worked with children and infants with disabilities, spending much of that time in the South Bronx, operating programs for children with limited English proficiency and significant cultural and economic barriers to services.

In 1996, Terence and Nathan decided to begin DDRS Inc. as a method of bringing the same quality of services to children with disabilities that was possible for affluent families, to those most in need and least likely to obtain quality care. DDRS has become known and respected in the Hudson Valley as the pre-eminent practitioner of speech pathology and Special Education services.

Both Nathan and Terence serve as faculty at local Universities in the graduate level of their respective disciplines, and bring that same care and attention to detail to the quality of services DDRS Inc. provides.