WELCOME
a pediatric therapy clinic located in Lubbock, Texas owned and operated by two sisters, an occupational therapist and a speech-language pathologist
Dear
Sister
Therapy
helping children become the greatest version of themselves
As a sister team, we strive to provide exceptional, high quality therapy, parent training, education and many additional options for families to explore and obtain the services they need for their child.
About Our
We grew up in a rural community where we had to drive hours for everything. It was very important to us to provide options for families who do not live in Lubbock. Thus, we provide speech and occupational therapy to amazing families in Lubbock, the surrounding area, as well as service options for those further away.
Meet
Abby
Meet
Hannah
Clinic
About
Us
What Makes Us Different
It's a Team Approach
It’s a team approach here at DST. We view you, the parent, as the most important aspect of the team because no one understands your child more! It does not matter how skilled the therapist or how awesome the treatment approach is working if the parent is not empowered as a collaborative team member throughout therapy. When parent education and collaboration is not emphasized, the greatest potential for maximum success in therapy is lost. However, as a team, we can make decisions together that change your child’s life. Our goal is to create the best plan for your child with the knowledge and expertise brought by each member of your child’s team.
We Emphasize Parent Education and Training
The most important part of our job is to teach parents how to intervene on their child's behalf when we are not around. We teach parents how to be their child’s personal specialist. As your child's own specialist, you can continuously facilitate and improve your child’s progress and achievements outside of therapy for lifelong success. We transform parents from the stage of searching for what to do, to leaving therapy equipped with a set of tools to help their child succeed in daily tasks, overcome challenges, and continually use these new found gains and skill sets to take the next step in life.
We Focus on Quality not Quantity
We believe that if you are going to be receiving intervention, education, and training from an expert, you need to actually be given the time to learn from that expert. Otherwise, what’s the point of working with that professional? When the emphasis is on quantity, the focus is on how many children are treated; when the emphasis is on quality, the focus is on how well the child is treated. Quality of services is the top priority here.
Want to know how we do it?
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Want to know how we do it?
Want to know how we do it?
click here!
click here!
It's a team approach here at DST. We view you, the parent, as the most important aspect of the team because no one understands your child more!
Want to know more?
The most important part of our job is to teach parents how to intervene on their child's behalf when we are not around. We teach parents how to be their child’s personal specialist, a specialist who can continuously facilitate and improve their child’s progress and achievements...
Want to know more?
We believe that if you are going to be receiving intervention, education, and training from an expert, you need to actually be given the time to learn from that expert. Otherwise, what’s the point of working with that professional?
Want to know more?
What Makes Us Different
it's a team approach
this is how we do it
We are highly involved with the parent from intake and assessment to developing a plan of care and course of action in therapy. At the start, the parent gets an in-depth look into their child’s development, strengths, and weaknesses through a thorough evaluation and explanation about what the results really mean. We explain our recommendations and the reasons behind them. From there, we make a plan for what to do to improve these areas as a team through skilled intervention, home programs, training, and more. We prioritize interventions around your greatest concerns and what your family needs to be more successful in all aspects of life. We intervene as a team through collaborative planning, constant communication, checking in to reassess, and modifying approaches in order for the child to achieve the goals for which we are all striving for.
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It does not matter how skilled the therapist or how awesome the treatment approach is working if the parent is not empowered as a collaborative team member throughout therapy. When parent education and collaboration is not emphasized, the greatest potential for maximum success in therapy is lost. However, as a team, we can make decisions together that change your child’s life. Our goal is to create the best plan for your child with the knowledge and expertise brought by each member of your child’s team.
it's a team approach
this is how we do it
What Makes Us Different
we emphasize parent education and training
this is how we do it
Our emphasis is on educating parents in understanding the underlying problem areas, how they can adequately address them and how to effectively diminish them. We do this so parents feel confident in teaching others (such as a teacher or a coach) how to do the same outside of the home. As parents start to really understand where the breakdown in development is and how to address these problem areas, the child starts to get intervention all the time. Over time, after utilizing the intentional parent conferences and trainings that are part of your child’s therapy plan and package, the expert role shifts from therapist-led to parent-led, which sets a child up for lifelong success.
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next
this is how we do it
we emphasize parent education and training
We transform parents from searching for what to do, to leaving therapy equipped with a set of tools to help their child succeed in daily tasks, overcome challenges, and continually use these new found gains and skill sets to take the next step in life.
What Makes Us Different
we focus on Quality not Quantity
this is how we do it
At DST, we have an extremely limited client case load so that the children under our care are our top priority. We focus on giving our clients and their families the quality time they deserve with the therapist. We are all about connection, collaboration, and commitment. We do not believe that the high quality level of care we strive to achieve is possible with a high volume of clients. We keep our caseload limited so that we can connect and collaborate with the families to whom we are committed. The families we have the honor of serving bring us the utmost joy and are the best part of our job so we treat them that way!
go back
next
this is how we do it
we focus on quality not quantity
When the emphasis is on quantity, the focus is on how many children are treated, when the emphasis is on quality, the focus is on how well the child is treated. Quality of services is a top priority here.
Occupational Therapy Services
Please inquire for more details
sensory
what we do
motor planning
Occupational therapy targets a child’s functional performance in age appropriate activities, tasks, and skills. OT facilitates and improves performance in many different neurological processes, and skill categories.
fine motor
gross motor
bilateral coordination
emotional regulation
executive functions
strengthing
self-care
visual processing
We elicit changes in a child’s developmental trajectory by facilitating the building blocks of development starting with weak areas. We assess a child’s strengths and weaknesses by completing a thorough evaluation. Once problem areas are identified, we target those areas through different treatment techniques, tools, strategies and modalities, all while centering activities around play and a child’s interests and abilities. We grade activities as the child progresses to continuously challenge the child to push toward the next developmental milestone or goal benchmark. Our clinic has a wide array of specialized sensory equipment; therefore, we have the enhanced ability to provide sensory based therapy as needed. The most important thing we do in our OT program is to educate parents every step of the way to build their own skill set to assess and decipher where their child’s strengths and weaknesses lie and what steps to take next. With those new skills, a parent is then empowered with the tools to help facilitate their child by using their strengths to build up areas of weakness and turn them into newfound assets.
how we do it
attention
praxis
handwriting
eye-hand coordination
motor precision
play
vestibular input
social stories
how does your engine run
visual schedules
constant assessment
proprioceptive input
motor courses
handwriting without tears
zones of regulation
Speech Therapy Services
how we do it
what we do
We elicit changes in a child’s speech-language abilities by focusing on the foundation. We build speech and language from the foundation up. We assess a child’s areas of strengths and weaknesses through an extensive evaluation that carefully assesses each area under the communication umbrella. Based on information gained during the evaluation, we develop a plan of care that specifically addresses weaknesses through individualized treatment techniques, tools, modalities, and strategies. We utilize a child’s strengths and interests to address problem areas in a way that is fun and engaging. We are very intentional in the way that we build speech and language skills to develop greater independence and joy in the child's ability to communicate needs and wants. We focus on the fundamental elements that build a foundation upon which all language is built.
Speech therapy addresses a child’s functional performance in age appropriate speech-language abilities and skills. Speech therapy addresses and improves skills in a wide range of areas that all play an integral part in communication.
Please inquire for more details
communication
language
pragmatics
expressive language
receptive language
articulation
auditory processing
apraxia of speech
alternative & augmentative communication
PECs
social skills
social language
language delays
motor planning for speech
visual schedules
verbal prompts
games
play
constant assessment
roleplay
drills
home programs
motor planning
movement
tapping into interests
book walks
Getting Started
Initial Contact
Your Questions and Concerns
Free Tour and Child Screening
-Fill out the contact form
-We will reach out to you by phone
-We will call you to discuss your questions and concerns
-We will discuss the whole intake process with you and obtain the doctor’s referral
-We will discuss our current availability and what appointment times are open to make sure it’s something that works for you, or place you on a waitlist for any specific appointment times that you need
-We will set up a time for you to tour our facility and meet the therapist to verify we're a good fit for you
-If it’s convenient to bring your child to the tour, we will screen your child but it's not required; we can often determine if an evaluation is necessary or not just based on our conversations with you
-At the tour we will again discuss which appointment times are currently available and what your child’s status is on the list of evaluations/openings
No. 2
No. 1
No. 3
The Evaluation
Intake Paperwork and Referral
-Once scheduled, you will bring your child to the evaluation which typically lasts 60-90 minutes and will consist of clinical observations, clinical assessment, discussion with the parent, and standardized testing
-We have designated evaluation times that are separate from when your child would see their therapist for appointments
-Once the evaluation is over, we will set up an appointment to discuss the clinical findings of the evaluation
-At the parent conference we will discuss the clinical findings of the evaluation and discuss our clinical recommendations for what might be best to help your child with problem areas, concerns, etc.
-If therapy is recommended:
We will discuss packages and options to determine what might be best for your family and confirm a permanent appointment time; at that time your child’s appointment time will be spoken for and unavailable for anyone else
-If therapy is not recommended:
We will provide resources or other referrals to best help your family find the help you are needing for your child
-The assessment starts with the parent providing information about the child’s health, developmental history, etc. by filling out the intake paperwork
-We will confirm that we have received a current referral from your child’s pediatrician or specialist
-Once these steps are completed, we can schedule your child’s evaluation
No. 4
Child’s Evaluation
No. 5
Parent Conference
No. 6
Treatment
-Over time, with hard work and dedication, your child will reach the point of not needing skilled expert intervention because of progress made in therapy as well as parent training and education. As this point in time approaches, the therapist will discuss options for reduction in frequency of therapy or transition to skill groups or consultations with therapist instead of one-on-one therapy sessions
-Once the family, child, and therapist all feel confident in the level of achievement, in the level of education and training, and in the mastery of goals attained, the child will officially graduate from therapy, a very exciting day indeed!
-As part of our service, we continue to stay in contact with families. Our former clients always have the ability to contact us again for consult because of newly arisen problems or concerns. You will always be a priority for us to help in any way we can
-As an integral part of therapy, we provide parents with updates and education at each therapy session which includes: discussing your child’s progress in therapy and at home, providing resources, giving out home work and home programs, and discussing concerns and struggle areas
-All of these education actions and adjuncts to therapy are highly customized based on your child’s age, developmental level, reactions to intervention, interests, strengths and weaknesses, etc.
-Your package selection will determine what dedicated time for parent conferences, trainings, and resources you will be receiving which is fully customizable and changeable over time and throughout your child’s course in therapy so that we may provide families with the best fit throughout the process
-If therapy was recommended, your child will start coming in for therapy sessions at their designated appointment time and frequency as determined at the parent conference
-We plan therapy sessions to be engaging, exciting, innovative, and totally fun. Your child may have no idea that they are doing “work” while we are working toward mastering goals and making big changes
Start of Therapy
No. 7
Parent Education and Training
No. 8
Child’s Graduation
No. 9
FAQ
Let us answer your questions
Speech and OT sessions are up to 60 minutes. During the 60 minute skilled intervention session, approximately 50 minutes will be one-on-one with your child and 10 minutes will be spent updating and training you as the parent. This, of course, varies over time and changes depending on a child's particular needs. Parents sometimes elect for shorter sessions for very young children or for children with shorter attention spans. This is something that you will discuss with your therapist at the parent conference after the evaluation.
Every child’s plan of care is different, and length of time in therapy is highly dependent on parent involvement, carryover, and frequency of therapy visits. You and the therapist will discuss these factors to help plan for and develop your child’s specific plan of care to determine from what they will benefit the most.
We intentionally do not take insurance. At Dear Sister Therapy, we work for you, the parent, and your child, not for insurance companies. We develop a child’s specific plan of care to completely address parental concerns and what is best for your child’s development. Insurance plays no part in decisions that are made or goals addressed in therapy. The beauty of our private practice therapy model is the ability to recommend exactly what is best for your child and work directly with parents to determine the route to take vs. allowing insurance to dictate what we can or cannot do for your child. If your insurance does cover therapy visits, we provide complimentary superbills monthly that individual families may submit to their insurance company for reimbursement.
Typically, we recommend therapy sessions at a frequency of 1-2 times per week. More intensive models or consultative parent education and training based models are also options to adequately address needs and challenge areas which have been targeted in therapy. Every child is different and will benefit from a highly customized plan to best suit their individual needs and goals. Your therapist will discuss all these options with you to help determine what would be best practice for your child.
This will be highly dependent on your child and what sets your child up for success in therapy sessions. This will be something that your therapist will discuss with you and may even try different options to determine what maximizes your child’s achievements in therapy. Parent and child preferences are also considered.
Yes! Here at Dear Sister Therapy, one of our primary goals is to emphasize education and training for you so that your child is not only getting help during therapy sessions, but also at home, in school, and in the community. Our goal is to teach you what to do to help your child not only now, but throughout their lifetime. You will be working with the therapist, as a team, to implement carryover at home. Over time, and with practice and support, you will learn valuable information from your therapist to begin utilizing different home programs, strategies, techniques, hacks, and tips to use on a regular basis at home, at school and in the community.
We treat a wide variety of diagnoses, special needs, and problem areas. A formal diagnosis is not needed for therapy. We will discuss your child’s diagnosis or lack of diagnosis at the tour and screening and answer any questions you may have. Your child deserves the absolute best, and we will help you locate any other experts that may be needed in the provision of top notch services for your child.
Sensory based therapy is a specialized type of occupational therapy that specifically addresses deep underlying sensory needs and differences; this therapy helps to satisfy those needs and allow for higher-level learning and achievement. A trained therapist utilizes different types of sensory input, integrative activities, and modalities to normalize and improve sensory processing and integration. Treating sensory dysfunction and abnormalities enables children to live a happier and more functional life; frequently leading to significantly improved motor skills, ability to follow adult-directions, attend, learn and retain information, develop new skills, problem solve, and more.
The initial evaluation is customized to the individual needs of your child
The initial evaluation will include:
-Full battery of standardized assessments curated to the needs of your child
-Clinical observations that provide critical information utilized in the development of an individualized plan of care
-Written report depicting results of standardized measures as well as clinical observations
-Parent conference following the evaluation to discuss results of the evaluation and develop a plan of action as a team
Initial Evaluation
Weekly OT Sessions
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Investment Page
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Occupational Evaluation
$285
What areas can we assess during the initial evaluation?
click here
Want more info about the evaluation process?
click here
3 Month Package Includes:
-10 visits
-1 one-hour parent conference
-Simple resources provided for family education and support
-Progress summary report
Basic Package
3 Month Package Includes:
-10 visits
-1 one-hour parent conference
-1 parent training session
-Many resources provided for family education and support
-Progress summary report
3 Month Package Includes:
-10 visits
-2 one-hour parent conferences
-1 parent training session
-Extensive resources provided for family education and support
-Progress summary report
Standard Package
Pro Package
$480
$595
$720
billed monthly
Two Sessions a Week
billed monthly
billed monthly
Weekly OT Sessions
Investment Page
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click here
Twice Weekly OT Sessions
3 Month Package includes:
-20 visits
-1 one-hour parent conference
-Simple resources provided for family education and support
-Progress summary report
Basic Package
Package includes:
-20 visits
-1 one-hour parent conference
-1 parent training session
- Many resources provided for family education and support
-Progress summary report
Package includes:
-20 visits
-2 one-hour parent conferences
-1 parent training session
-Extensive resources provided for family education and support
-Progress summary report
Standard Package
Pro Package
$880
$995
$1120
billed monthly
billed monthly
billed monthly
One Session a Week
Investment Page
go back
click here
The initial evaluation is customized to the individual needs of your child
The initial evaluation will include:
-Full battery of standardized assessments curated to the needs of your child
-Clinical observations that provide critical information utilized in the development of an individualized plan of care
-Written report depicting results of standardized measures as well as clinical observations
-Parent conference following the evaluation to discuss results of the evaluation and develop a plan of care as a team
Initial Evaluation
Weekly speech therapy sessions
click here
Investment Page
go back
Speech-Language Evaluation
$285
What areas can we assess during the initial evaluation?
click here
Want more info about the evaluation process?
click here
3 Month Package Includes:
-10 visits
-1 one-hour parent conference
-Simple resources provided for family education and support
-Progress summary report
Basic Package
3 Month Package Includes:
-10 visits
-1 one-hour parent conference
-1 parent training session
-Many resources provided for family education and support
-Progress summary report
3 Month Package Includes:
-10 visits
-2 one-hour parent conferences
-1 parent training session
-Extensive resources provided for family education and support
-Progress summary report
Standard Package
Pro Package
$480
$595
$720
billed monthly
Two Sessions a Week
billed monthly
billed monthly
Weekly Speech Therapy Sessions
Investment Page
go back
click here
Twice Weekly Speech Therapy Sessions
3 Month Package includes:
-20 visits
-1 one-hour parent conference
-Simple resources provided for family education and support
-Progress summary report
Basic Package
Package includes:
-20 visits
-1 one-hour parent conference
-1 parent training session
- Many resources provided for family education and support
-Progress summary report
Package includes:
-20 visits
-2 one-hour parent conferences
-1 parent training session
-Extensive resources provided for family education and support
-Progress summary report
Standard Package
Pro Package
$880
$995
$1120
billed monthly
billed monthly
billed monthly
One Session a Week
Investment Page
go back
click here
Speech-Language Evaluation
What can we assess during the evaluation?
Articulation
Apraxia of Speech
Expressive Langauge
Voice
Auditory Processing
Stuttering
Phonological Awareness
Reading
Social Language
Receptive Language
-Functional communication
-Sentence structure
- Use of augmentative & alternative communication
-Problem Solving
-Organization
-Reasoning
-Cognition
-Memory
-Recall
Executive Functioning
Attention
-Following directions
- Understanding & comprehension of spoken language
-Foundation of reading skills
- knowledge of letter & sound recognition
-rhyming abilities
-Phoneme manipulation within words
-Decoding
-Reading comprehension
-Reading speed and fluency
Metacognition
-Interactions & conversational skills with adults & peers
-Identification & regulation of emotions
-Problem solving
-Utilizing strategies to learn new concepts
-Vocal quality
-Vocal fluency
-Ability to attend to a task
-Joint attention
-Production of speech sounds including sound errors, substitutions, omissions, and distortions
-Motor planning
Phonological Processes
-Patterns of sound errors
-Following directions
- Listening and understanding spoken language
-speech disfluencies
-secondary behaviors
Speech-language Evaluation
Investment Page
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Occupational Therapy Evaluation
What can we assess during the evaluation?
Fine Motor Skills
Visual Skills
Whole Body Coordination
Motor Planning & Praxis
Attention & Executive Functions
Independence with Age Appropriate Self-Care Skills
Muscle Function
Sensory Processing & Regulation
-Fine Motor Coordination
-Fine Motor Precision
-Grasping Development and Skills
-Visual Motor Integration
-Visual Motor Integration
-Visual Memory
-Visual Perception
-Visual Discrimination
-Ocular Motility Skills and
Visual Tracking
-Gross Motor Coordination
-Bilateral Coordination
-Body Awareness
-Muscle Tone
-Body Strength
-Hand Strength for Correct Pencil Grasp
-Personal Care: Getting Dressed, Bathing, Toileting, Potty Training, Self-Feeding, Fastener Skills, Tying Shoes, etc.
-Attention
-Problem Solving
-Organization
-Reasoning
-Memory
-Difficulty with transitions and routine changes
-Seeking high levels of control, difficulty tolerating being told no
-Seeking rigid routine and organization in things in life
-Meltdowns and emotional upsets outside of what’s typical for a child’s age
-Difficulty learning a new motor plan i.e. difficulty learning to write letters, tying shoes, riding a bike, baseball swing, etc.
-Difficulty copying and imitating other’s motor actions
-Hypersensitivity and difficulty tolerating sensory input (i.e. tolerating different: food textures, clothing types, loud noises, teeth brushing, bathing, toileting, etc.)
-Hyposensitive and sensory seeking (seeking excessive input i.e. can’t stop moving, excessive vocalizations, self-injurious behaviors, seeks to jump off high places, constantly spinning and twirling, plays rough, etc.)
Investment Page
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OT Evaluation
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Located In
Lubbock
TEXAS
11911 Frankford Ave
Suite 300
Lubbock, Texas
79424
We provide occupational therapy and speech therapy to some amazing families in Lubbock and the surrounding communities of: Abernathy, Brownfield, Crosbyton, Denver City, Dimmitt, Idalou, Lamesa, Levelland, Littlefield, Muleshoe, Plainview, Post, Seminole, Shallowater, Slaton, Tahoka, Tulia, and many other small towns in the surrounding area.
Phone
Fax
806.370.7525
806.370.6535
abby@dearsistertherapy.com
hannah@dearsistertherapy.com
occupational therapy
speech therapy
