Bothell Pediatric and Hand Therapy

Kimberly Alquist OTR/L, CHT

Kimberly has over 20 years of experience in pediatric occupational therapy and with hand therapy in both the pediatric and adult populations. She is a University of Washington graduate, with affiliations in pediatrics, psychiatry, physical disabilities, and orthopedic hand rehabilitation. She has worked in school settings, private practice, and acute orthopedic hand surgery rehabilitation. She uses an eclectic approach involving her training in modalitites, splinting, myofascial release, acute surgical rehabilitation, overuse syndrome intervention, NDT, SI, functional vision development, and oral-motor development. Kimberly helped standardize the ETCH (Evaluation Tool of Children Handwriting). She is also a Certified Kinesiotaping Practitioner. She specializes in custom spliniting, positioning and casting. Her interests include the study of the upper extremity kinematics in relation to development which lead her to a post-graduate independent study involving dissection of anatomy at the University of Washington.

Adrienne Dienst, OT/L

Adrienne has been practicing pediatric Occupational Therapy in the greater seattle area since 1979, after graduating from the University of Washington. Her experience includes school-based, clinical-based and private practice with children ranging in age from infancy into their teens. Her specialities include pediatrics with a strong knowledge of Sensory Processing Disorders and Neurodevelopmental Therapy Techniques. She enjoys disabilites from handwriitng difficulties to leaning and physicall challenges such as diagnoses of CP, Autism Spectrum Disorders, Attention disorders and Neuromuscular Disorders.

She enjoys focusing on mentoring new parents and supporting families with extraordinary challenges. In her spare time, she travels to Florida and is an avid tennis player and high school girls tennis coach.

Vicki Nelson, OTR/L

Vicki has over 10 years of experience in pediatric occupational therapy. Vicki is a graduate of University of Washington with a degree in psychology and University of Oklahoma for occupational therapy. Her experience comes from public schools, private clinics, and hospital settings. Her interests are early intervention, sensory integrative disorder, and fine motor skill acquisition. Vicki believes strongly that communication between the school, physicians, and private therapy clinics is key to the success of each child. She has education in the Alert Program, Handwriting Without Tears, Loops and Other Groups, Infant Assessment Training at the University of Washington, and oral-motor/feeding. Vicki is the mother of three children and enjoys running, family, and quiet evenings once her children are asleep.

Jonathan Oddy, OTR/L

Jonathan graduated with a Master of Occupational Therapy from the University of Sydney in 2006. Prior to this Jonathan completed a Bachelor of Psychology at the Australian National University. Since graduating he has worked at a community rehabilitation center for adults with mental illness. He has also spent time at a major acute hospital in Sydney, working in orthopedics, neurosciences and general surgery. Away from work Jonathan enjoys being outdoors and is a member of the Seattle Grizzlies Australian Rules football club.

Michelle Parnes, MS, OTR/L

Michelle Parnes has over 15 years experience as an Occupational Therapist having graduated from the University of Wisconsin in 1991. She completed an advanced master's degree in Occupational Therapy at the University of Washington in 1999 with an emphasis on pediatrics. Michelle has extensive experience in school based practice, with adults in spinal cord rehab, general rehab, acute care, and home health. Specific continuing pediatric training includes The Alert Program, Handwriting Without Tears, and sensory processing challenges.

Michelle enjoys working with children with a variety of needs. Michelle believes in strong communication between the therapist, family and school setting for a holistic approach in helping children become as independent as possible. Michelle cherishes time with her own two young children and her husband. Her hobbies (time permitting) include quilting, hiking, ceramics, and reading the Sunday newspaper!

Maria Soderqvist, OTR/L

Maria graduated in Sweden with her degree in occupational therapy in 1989. She has experience with children and adult populations in hospital and private settings in neurology, rheumatology, and psychiatry departments. Maria is very interested in aquatic therapy and she was an instructor in Halliwick Swimming for children with special needs for many years. Maria has a passion for dogs and has seen how they can be an attribute in the therapeutic setting. When not working, Maria lives an active life interested in the outdoors and running. She spends most of her time with her husband, 3 children playing competitive sports, and 2 dogs.

Emily Wilson, OTR/L

Emily graduated from the University of Southern California with a Masters degree in Occupational Therapy in 2007. Prior to pursuing her graduate studies, she attended Scripps College where she completed her Bachelors degree in Neuroscience and minored in Dance. Emily's academic interests have been in the area of human development, particularly of the nervous system. She is excited to have found the avenue of occupational therapy to connect her theoretical background with practical applications.

Over the past year and a half, Emily has gained experience working with children with cerebral palsy and with children with sensory and regulatory disorders. Emily's interests include use of the DIR Floortime method to develop a child's capacity to engage with others in order to develop deeper, more meaningful interactions with peers and family members. Emily also has experience working with adults in aquatic therapy, and thinks that the multisensory experience of water provides an ideal setting for healing and transformation.

When not at work, Emily enjoys practicing yoga, hiking, rockclimbing, skiing, and spending time with her husband and new puppy.

Shannon Wells, DPT

Shannon graduated from Marquette University in 2009 as a Doctor of Physical Therapy, specializing in Pediatrics. She also has a Bachelors degree in Psychology from Marquette. She recently completed an intense clinical rotation at Children's Hospital of Michigan, and has worked with multiple pediatric clinics and day camps in the Chicago and Milwaukee area. During college, she worked in the therapy department at a Level-One Trauma Center in Milwaukee, gaining experience in neurological, orthopedic and acute-care physical therapy. Her interests include working especially with neurologic and genetic conditions, and she also has a strong background in orthopedics and aquatic therapy.

Shannon has a passion for life-long learning, and plans on advancing her education by becoming a Pediatric Clinical Specialist within the next 5 years. As a Chicago native, she enjoys exploring her new hometown of Seattle, which keeps her extremely busy outside of work!

Heidi Bigelow, MS CCC-SLP

Heidi graduated with a Master of Science degree in Speech-Language Pathology from the University of Washington. She worked for Monroe Public Schools in an elementary school and middle school, gaining experience in serving children ages 3-14 with language, voice, fluency, and articulation/phonological disorders, as well as Autism Spectrum Disorders. Heidi specializes in treating language disorders through the use of narrative development and phonological disorders with the Hodson Cycles Approach . She is not certified in PROMPT, but has passed the first PROMPT course for treating the motor aspects of developmental speech disorders. Heidi greatly enjoys laughing with her husband and young son, and looks forward to the birth of another son this year. She also enjoys church, community service, writing, photography and video authoring.

Christy Price, MS CCC-SLP

Christy graduated with a Master of Science degree in Speech-Language Pathology from the University of Washington in August of 2004. Since graduating, she has worked in a clinic setting with the pediatric population serving children with a wide range of communication difficulties including autism spectrum disorders, articulation/phonological disorders, receptive and expressive language disorders, language delay, apraxia, auditory processing disorder and dyslexia. Christy believes in providing services that are individualized to the child's specific strengths and weaknesses and sensitive to the goals of the family. She is a native of Washington State and enjoys the many, varied activities of the area. Outside of work, Christy enjoys reading, spending time with family and has recently become interested in kickboxing to stay active.

Dara Schmeck, MS CCC-SLP

Dara received a Bachelor of Arts in Honours Speech Sciences from the University of British Columbia (2002) and a Master of Science in Communication Disorders from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (2004). Since that time, she has worked in private pediatric clinics as well as a neurodevelopmental center.

Dara enjoys working in a broad variety of areas, including childhood apraxia of speech, stuttering, early intervention, and feeding, and Dara is falling in love again with alternative and augmentative communication. She has specific training in PROMPT (Prompts for Restructuring Oral Muscular Phonetic Targets) level 1, the Beckman Oral Motor Protocol, verbal behaviour techniques, and is a member of the DynaVox DREAM team, as well as having received training from Prentke-Romich representatives. Dara strives to involve the family and collaborate with other professionals to provide the best care possible for her patients, and believes that, above all, therapy should be FUN!

In her free time, Dara enjoys spending time with her husband and dog, visiting family and friends, reading, baking, and her newly-acquired hobby, crocheting.

Heidi Wade, MS, CCC-SLP

Heidi acquired her Master's of Speech Language and Hearing Science from the University of North Dakota in 2004. She has worked with infants and toddlers with hearing, speech and deafness issues. Certified in Hanen intervention, she enjoys children with speech and language deficits, while involving the family in the therapeutic program. She is PROMPT trained and she has specialized in feeding, with professional coursework in pediatric dysphagia. Heidi uses an NDT approach for facilitating mobility children with neuromuscular deficits, as it pertains to developmental communication during play.

Tina Diaz, Bookkeeper

Tina accomplished her Bachelor's in Accounting form the University of the Phillipines in 2000. She moved to LA where she excelled in her position until 2007. After getting married she moved to Seattle and worked in a retail and wholesale business and came to love the northwest. She joined Bothell Pediatric in June and enjoys the medical field helping people. She is married to a wonderful man from Italy. Together, they love being active in the outdoors, camping, hiking, and backpacking.

Olga

Olga has 20 years of experience in accounting, 10 of which were working as a senior accountant. She completed the Billing and Coding program at Cambridge College. Olga's hobbies are cooking, reading, hiking, and traveling. She enjoys spending time with her family and friends.

Natasha Moore

Natasha has over 15 years experience in Medical billing, coding and credentialing. She will be attending the University of Washington Physician Assistance Program. Her hobbies consist of Kickboxing, Yoga and spending time with her family and friends.

Rachelle Nerger, Front Office Manager

Rachelle has 20+ years in the medical field. She particularly likes working in the rehabilitation field, where she has been for the last 7 years. Rachelle enjoys seeing improvements physicially, and in the quality of life that therapy provides. She finds working with families of children especially rewarding. Rachelle is married with 2 biological children and 3 step-children. As a family, they enjoy skiing, snowboarding, camping, water activities and traveling.

Amanda Lytz

Amanda graduated from Gonzaga University in 2007 with a bachelor's degree in Psychology. She plans on getting her masters degree in Occupational Therapy. Amanda has worked with children teaching art classes and as a summer camp counselor. She enjoys yoga and dancing.

Carol Matthew

Carol studied Early Childhood Education and Developmental Psychology, graduating with a BA degree in Psychology from San Francisco State University. She worked within the schools of Santa Barbara as a Preschool Teacher, Playground Supervisor, Special Education Aide, and Health Office Assistant for many years before coming to BPHT as a Therapy Aide. Carol is happily married for 25 years to her husband Scott, and they have two fantastic grown children Christopher and Samantha.

Jeanette Klaber

Jeanette is a graduate of the University of Minnesota with a degree in Kinesiology with an emphasis in pre physical therapy. She has experience working with kids in aquatic therapy as well as sport related injuries. She is excited to gain more experience working at BPHT while pursuing her goal of attending physical therapy school.