Meet Rizza Miro Lemonakis, M.A., CCC-SLP/Owner

Rizza Miro Lemonakis, MS, CCC-SLP

Founder & Executive Director, Rizza Miro & Associates 

Rizza is a board-certified and NJ-licensed Speech Language Pathologist and the founder of Rizza Miro & Associates. She earned her Master’s degree in speech-language pathology from The George Washington University and has extensive experience across schools, acute care hospitals, early intervention programs, and outpatient facilities.

Rizza’s passion shines through her work with children from birth through 18 years of age. She is trained in multiple evidence-based treatment approaches, including the PROMPT method for Childhood Apraxia of Speech, Michelle Winner’s Social Thinking Program, the Integrated Listening Program (Advanced Practitioner), and the SOS Feeding Program. She also developed the Feeding Center at The Communication Station to provide specialized support for children with feeding needs.

Her leadership and expertise have been recognized both locally and nationally. She was honored in the Courier Post 2008 article “35 Under 35,” which highlighted community-minded professionals making a difference. She has been featured on ABC News for the Feeding Center, and served as a national speaker for Lorman Education Services, as well as a local speaker for the Tri-County Speech/Language Hearing Association, ASPEN (Asperger Syndrome Education Network), and the Apraxia Support Group.

Rizza has also shared her expertise at major professional conferences. She was a co-speaker at the Pennsylvania Speech and Hearing Convention for “Improving Social Interaction and Communication with an Interactive Language Program”.  She traveled across the state, presenting a two-part lecture series on behalf of the New Jersey Department of Education on promoting language and literacy in preschool classrooms. She has been a featured speaker at the Cooper Hospital Learning Center’s Dyslexia Conference and has worked directly with families through KIDDS, a non-profit serving children with Down syndrome.

Her collaborations extend to the arts as well—she partnered with the West Jersey Music Academy to launch the first local music program designed specifically for children with special needs. As their Communication Consultant, she trained staff in communication disorders and served as liaison to families. In addition, she helped WJMA create a Music Program for preschoolers with language delays, which launched successfully in May 2021.

Today, Rizza continues to balance clinical work with developing programs, attending IEP meetings to advocate for families, completing third-party independent evaluations, and giving expert testimony. She also runs at least three social skills groups daily, serving preschoolers all the way to college students. Along with two decades of honing her social coaching skills, she is PEERS-certified (UCLA PEERS), one of only a handful of evidence-based, data-driven social skills programs in the country. Many of the children in her groups also receive individualized social coaching to ensure their unique needs are fully supported. 

The office she has built, with the staff she has curated, is truly her happy place.  But when she's not at the office you can find her on a paddle board or on top a mountain with her family after a hike.