Meet Jatavia, a pediatric occupational therapist in New Caney, Texas who left clinic life to build a caseload around the kids she actually wanted to work with — and did it in four months.

The Starting Point

Jatavia had been in pediatric OT long enough to know what she loved. Feeding. Sensory regulation. Kids with autism. The work that required patience, precision, and a real relationship with the family over time.

What clinic life couldn't give her was the ability to build around those specialties. In outpatient, you see whoever is on the schedule. Productivity requirements run at 75% and above. Documentation time bleeds into evenings. And the caseload is the clinic's — not yours.

She had worked in outpatient, inpatient rehab, and home health. She knew what each looked like from the inside. When she found Coral Care, the pitch was simple: build the practice you actually want, in the community you're already in, around the kids you're best at treating.

"I really switched to Coral Care to have flexibility and be able to navigate my own learning opportunities. I've been able to gear my schedule and my caseload around the kids I love working with."

About Jatavia

Jatavia specializes in feeding, sensory processing, and working with children with autism — a combination that puts her at one of the more demanding intersections in pediatric OT. Feeding alone requires understanding sensory thresholds, oral motor development, environmental context, and family behavior patterns all at once. It's the kind of work that doesn't translate well to a 45-minute clinic slot.

She came to OT by way of wanting to work hands-on with kids without going the physician route. Once she found the field, she went deep: lifespan experience across pediatrics and adults, then a deliberate narrowing toward the niche she cared about most.

Her sessions are built around what motivates each child. Toy trucks, dinosaurs, stickers, coloring — whatever opens the door. She makes her own sensory bins and rotates them across clients and weeks. Her therapy bag is stocked with fine motor tools, adaptive writing equipment, and handouts she designs herself to make practice feel like play rather than work.

"Most people think feeding is just innate, that it just comes to us. But you do have to learn how to do some things. Being part of that journey — seeing kids discover new foods, new textures — is really rewarding."

The Case for In-Home OT

For Jatavia, the in-home setting isn't just a preference — it's a clinical argument. Especially in feeding.

Feeding is inseparable from environment. Where the family eats, how the table is set up, what the sensory landscape of the kitchen feels like — all of it matters. In a clinic, you can address oral motor mechanics. In a child's actual home, at their actual table, during the time of day their family actually eats, you can address everything.

"A lot of feeding has to do with environment. Being in the home where feeding takes place, where dinners happen, it helps bridge those gaps. And being in their comfort — because sometimes, in clinics, there are just different feelings that kids aren't able to navigate as well as being in their safe space."

The same logic applies to routines. When a family is struggling with toothbrushing, getting dressed, or transitions out the door in the morning, Jatavia is right there in those spaces — not simulating them in a clinic room. The home education plans she gives families aren't worksheets to be filed away. They're instructions for the exact context where the behavior needs to change.

The Growth Journey

Jatavia joined Coral Care and started slow — which she expected. Then it ramped up fast — which she didn't quite anticipate.

Within four months she had 16 active clients. More importantly, they were the clients she wanted: sensory kids, feeding kids, children with autism who needed a therapist who understood reflex integration. The matching worked the way she hoped. Her portal listed her specialties, families with those specific needs found her, and the caseload took shape around her clinical identity rather than whoever happened to call.

Her typical week runs on slow mornings — time to prepare, review her plan for the day, load her therapy bag — followed by sessions across ABA clinics, family homes, and schools. No clock-punching, no productivity target to hit, no documentation pile waiting at the end of a long day in a chair she doesn't own.

"It started off slow and then ramped up really fast. And I was like — okay, I'm really doing this. And that felt really great."

What Makes Jatavia's Approach Special

She builds around the child's world, not the clinic's schedule

Jatavia's sessions follow the child's natural environment and routine. If they're working on toothbrushing, they do it at the sink. If it's feeding, it's at the table. If it's a school-age kid struggling with handwriting, she's looking at how they sit, what the lighting is like, whether their sensory needs are met before they're ever asked to hold a pencil. The home gives her information a clinic never would.

She sends families home with a plan that actually works

The feedback Jatavia hears most from families is that her home exercise programs work. She designs them specifically for each family's context — not generic handouts, but targeted activities tied to the routines where the child is struggling. Families report back that the strategies carry over. That's the measure that matters.

She curates her caseload around her niche

Most providers take what comes in. Jatavia used Coral Care's matching to filter toward feeding, sensory, and autism cases from the start. One of her current patients specifically needed a reflex integration specialist — an area Jatavia has direct experience in. She was matched because she listed it. The specificity of the matching is what allowed her to build the practice she described wanting, rather than a general pediatric caseload she'd have to redirect over time.

How Coral Care Made the Difference

The Catalyst program built her visibility

Jatavia was part of the Catalyst program and points to the marketing support as one of her favorite parts of the experience. Seeing her name and specialty on flyers and postcards distributed in her community made the practice feel real — and brought in families who found her through those materials.

"Seeing the flyers and postcards come to life, seeing myself on them, seeing the work that went into that — and then being able to distribute them and see the look on people's faces. That was really rewarding."

No billing, no insurance headaches

At her previous clinics, billing was muscle memory — something you just absorbed and carried. With Coral Care, it disappeared entirely. She describes the removal of that administrative layer as what allows her to focus on planning interventions and caring for the child.

"Having Coral Care cover all the insurance and billing has made it very stress-free on the provider side. You can focus on the things that matter — planning your interventions and caring for the child."

Documentation that doesn't follow her home

Jatavia does her notes between sessions — laptop in the car, SOAP note done before the next appointment. She describes documentation at Coral Care as a breeze compared to the evaluation paperwork and repeated inputs her clinic required. The time she spent catching up on documentation at home after a full clinic day is time she now spends on her own terms.

The Bottom Line

Jatavia didn't leave the clinic because she was burned out. She left because she had a clear vision of the practice she wanted to build — and the clinic couldn't give it to her. Feeding specialists who also do sensory and reflex integration don't just appear on a general outpatient caseload. You have to go find those families, or make it easy for them to find you.

In four months in New Caney, she did both.