Hi there, my name is Paula and I work under NeCole as a Certified Occupational Therapy Assistant or COTA.  I have 5 beautiful and busy children and a wonderful husband.  We came to the great state of Texas by way of Upstate NY (not to be confused with NYC!) =)  I have worked in many different areas of Occupational Therapy including the business end.  I have found that children are my love and enjoy my time in the clinic working with the families and children to assist all to get the most out of life.

Christian

Elizabeth is an Occupational Therapist who has been with Kidz TherapEZE since September 2003. She moved to Killeen, Texas in May of 2001 from Atlanta, GA to reunite with her husband who has been stationed in the Army at Fort Hood since March 2000. Elizabeth graduated from the Medical College of Georgia where she received her Bachelor's Degree in Occupational Therapy in 2001. She most recently graduated with her Master’s Degree in Community Health in November 2008. She has a special interest in prevention of childhood obesity and other health related diseases. Elizabeth has 8 years of pediatric experience and 2 years of inpatient acute and rehab experience. She has attended several continuing education courses with emphasis on sensory integration training and behavioral management training. She is NDT trained in pediatrics (2006). Her professional goals include continuing to expand her knowledge in the pediatric and health related fields. She would also like to become a motivational speaker in the upcoming future. She enjoys working with a variety of clients with varying diagnosis. She enjoys interacting with her patients and their families, seeing the progress that her clients make towards reaching goals that they set, and the carryover of skills in their natural environment.
When not working, Elizabeth enjoys spending time with her wonderful husband, Darwin of more than 10 years, and middle school sweetheart. Together they have 2 beautiful small children, one sweet goddaughter, and 2 Labrador retriever dogs (Dolo and Piccolo). Elizabeth is blessed with a supportive network of friends who she enjoys spending time with. She relaxes by working out, reading, watching movies, traveling, and experiencing new activities such as dancing, martial arts, and outdoor adventures.

If there is a furry face four legged “therapist” in the clinic, you can bet Occupational Therapist, Tammy Renaud, is also nearby. Tammy is our Program Director for our newly established Animal Assisted Therapy program. With 12 years of experience incorporating animals into the healing process, she brings to KidzTherapeze a fresh and exciting idea, as well as a motivating therapeutic “tool” to use with our clients. Our goal is to have working therapy dogs and other small animals that can be incorporated into treatment with the children we see. From motor groups to motivating speech and language development, animals can often motivate children to participate in otherwise challenging tasks. Tammy is also an instructor and evaluator for the Pet Partners Program through Delta Society, an internationally recognized leader in AAT. In her “spare time” Tammy provides consultation and educational outreach to other individuals and organizations interested in doing similar work. This work includes traveling to Barcelona, Spain; Lisbon, Porgtugal; Guayaquil, Ecuador; and Santiago, Chile where she has provided lectures for Fundacion Bocalan (http://www.bocalan.es/fundacion.html) and their AAT certification program. For more information on Tammy and her AAT program, please go to www.jumpstarttherapies.org.

Animal Assisted Therapy and OT are not the only forms of rehabilitation Tammy has practiced. After completing her degree in OT, Tammy took a short career detour to follow a dream of her own…to rescue, rehabilitate, and release sick and injured dolphins and small whales as State Coordinator for the Texas Marine Mammal Stranding Network. During several of the rehabilitations, Tammy utilized her knowledge of treatment techniques for humans on the dolphins, often seeing wonderful results. Combining this love with her love of working with children, Tammy also worked with a dolphin assisted therapy program in Clearwater, FL as part of her Master’s degree internship program.

Tammy is also currently working with Texas Hearing and Service Dogs as a foster trainer and consulting OT to facilitate matching recipients with service dogs. Seen here is Tammy with her foster service dog in training, Onyx, who visited KidzTherapeze several times.

We’re excited to see what other tools Tammy has in her bag!!

.Josie has been with KidZ TherapEZE since January 2008. She is from the area and she is married to a UMHB student in the business school.

Susan began working at KidZ TherapEZE in Spring 2009. She has her Doctor of Occupational Therapy from Rockie Mountain University.

In 1998, I decided to pursue a degree in Occupational Therapy at the University of Puget Sound in Washington State.  I saw the profession as an opportunity to dedicate myself to improving the quality of life for disabled children and their families.  Throughout my career I have worked in the public school system, an acute care hospital, a rehabilitation hospital, and pediatric clinics.  My heart has always led me back to pediatrics.  I began working at Kidz Therapeze in March of 2009.  I have found that the supportive staff and well equipped clinic make it easy to enjoy my work.  The diversity of the children I serve and their families makes my job interesting, challenging and rewarding.  I consider it a tremendous blessing to be able to do what I do.  My husband and two children are the joy of my life.  We are very involved in our church where my husband serves on the elder board and I am a vocalist on the worship team.  I recently joined a jazz band called Cactus Groove and am looking forward to performing in various venues in and around Central Texas.  I also love to cook - and eat!

Hallie joined us here at Kidz Therapeze in Spring 2009.  She is originally from Mississippi where she received her Bachelors Degree at the University of Mississippi.  Hallie received her Masters of Occupational Therapy at LSU Health Sciences Center in New Orleans, LA in 2007.  She has experience in hospital settings working with acute and inpatient pediatrics.  

Hi Kelly, I saw the web site update. Here is my bio paragraph. I'll get a picture to you tomorrow if it works out.

Texas Woman’s University 1990
B. S. Occupational Therapy, Minor: Psychology
With a background in art, dance, and music, occupational therapy has been a great fit, because at the root of occupational therapy is the use of creative activities, to promote strength, mobility, coordination and executive function. She is experienced in aquatics, boating, canoeing kayaking, hippotherapy, yoga, tai chi, and bio-energetic healing.
Tina has practiced in a variety of settings including adult acute care, rehabilitation, outpatient, day programs. Her passion has always been with pediatrics, and hand therapy.
In her pediatric practice, she works with children and their families to address the challenges related to lack of coordination, strength, endurance, psycho-social differences, and perceptual motor issues. Her unique perspective includes the respect for each family’s lifestyle, and needs. As parental involvement is vital to success of any child’s progress, parents are included by consultation, and direct inclusion in therapy sessions as appropriate.
During the summer of 2008 Tina received certification of completion of Nova Southeastern University’s Intensive Integrative Approach to Theory and Practice. The skills attained through the course are a fundamental aspect of her sensory-motor approach to treatment.
As a pediatric therapist, she has practiced in Early Childhood Intervention, Home Health, School Districts, and Outpatient settings.
As a trainer, she has written and presented in-depth, hands-on workshops for teachers, child care providers, and parents. She served as a consultant with Austin Families Fix-It Project for 2 years.

In the Austin community she has produced large scale productions incorporating West-African drumming, dance, storytelling, and contemporary poetry with the Texas Essential Knowledge Skills for grades K-12. Before moveing to Austin she led truancy workshops at North Texas High Schools where she and a colleague taught drumming, dance and poetry to 200 chronically truant students.

Raechel Erwin, MS, CF-SLP

Katie Jones, MS, CF-SLP

Erika Oliva, SLPA

Brandie Matt, SLPA

Nikki Neugent, SLPA