BATON ROUGE - A local speech-language pathologist is using her skills as a hair stylist to help provide haircuts to those with sensory and physical disabilities.

Her name is Madeline Johnson and she's the owner and founder of Miss Madeline's LLC.

"So if you have any sort of physical or sensory disability or just any special need in general, I have the patience and skills required that I can help them have an enjoyable haircutting experience," Johnson said.

Johnson says her helpful nature came from her family, who always had the goal of helping others. Her mom Anna Johnson is an occupational therapist.

"My dad is actually a physical therapist. Her sister was a speech pathologist as well. So, she's always had that heart to help people," Anna said.

Johnson said she wanted to become a speech therapist after babysitting a boy with Down Syndrome while she was in high school. She went to LSU for college.

"I started my major as Child Family Studies and then eventually I took one Communications Disorders elective and I just wanted to stick with that. I ran with it and it never stopped, but I also never stopped doing hair."

While Johnson was in graduate school, she also got her cosmetology license. That's when the idea came to her: combine the skills of both fields and provide sensory haircuts.

She talked about the first sensory haircut she gave.

"It was a little boy. He had autism and he didn't like the feelings of the clippers or the scissors, so I introduced them slowly and he was able to kind of get used to the feeling. We just took our time and were patient. He was playing. He eventually enjoyed the experience and so did his mom," Johnson said.

She's recently begun partnerships with several salons across the Baton Rouge area to hold "Sensory Sundays," which are haircut days for those with sensory issues.

One of those is Salon Du Sud on Bluebonnet Boulevard. Johnson told WBRZ about some therapy tactics she learned as a speech therapist that proved to be very helpful with hair care.

"The buzzer of the clippers is the biggest one that I've learned so far, so we start on the legs and kind of work our way up to the head. If they need to be on the floor, we can be on the floor, if they need to be in the chair, we can be in the chair. If they need to stand, we can stand," Johnson said

Her goal is to open her own salon in Baton Rouge specifically for those with sensory issues.

Johnson says she will also be going to different schools and clinics across the Baton Rouge area to cut hair for kids with sensory.