Anchored In Your Wellness for nearly 35 Years
Our Pediatric Team
Pediatric Therapists Team
Our goal is to serve the community by offering high quality health care services to maximize each patient’s potential to restore health and well-being. The Company’s philosophy is that quality services are achieved through competent staff working in a warm and caring atmosphere.
Lauren’s clinical experience is rooted in inpatient acute care, outpatient orthopedics, and outpatient neurodevelopmental pediatrics. Lauren currently works with children ranging in age from early intervention (birth to 3 years) to young adult. She enjoys treating children with a variety of diagnoses and serves to provide patients and families with a family-centered approach to physical therapy.
Lauren hopes to receive continuing education regarding neurodevelopmental handling techniques and adaptive equipment/device training in order to better serve our families and the community.
Kristin L. Largena, OTR/L
Kristin is a Registered Occupational Therapist licensed in the Commonwealth of Virginia. Kristin earned her Occupational Therapy degree from East Carolina University in 2002. She completed a full time clinical internship with Dominion Pediatric Therapy as well as having begun her career volunteering at Dominion Pediatric Therapy in 1998 with Michele
Donnelly, COTA/L. Kristin joined the Dominion Pediatric Therapy team in April 2003.
Kristin’s work experience includes working in inpatient Rehab unit in a hospital setting as well as with adults with developmental disabilities in community settings. Her passion is in pediatrics however. She enjoys working with children with a variety of diagnoses and prides herself and Dominion on providing a holistic, family centered approach to occupational therapy.
Kristin is certified in the Beckman Oral Motor Program as well as has extensive training with visual processing techniques working closely with developmental optometrists in the area. The OT team continues to provide trainings on sensory integration for educators in the community as well as parents to assist the children with sensory, social, and feeding issues. The OT team also works closely with speech therapists and families in choosing and implementing communication systems/techniques.
Kristin has worked closely with the Peninsula School for Autism and has been published in the Journal of Social Science Research for work done with Old Dominion University and Physicians for Peace in the Dominican Republic in 2015.
Kristin serves as the Lead Therapist for the Occupational Therapy department. Through management training, she strives to provide a cohesive interdisciplinary team within our clinic and the community through early intervention.
Kristin continues to accept fieldwork students from several universities to provide quality mentorship and training to further OT career development.
Mara E. Dupuis COTA/L
Mara graduated with her degree from St. Catherine University in December 2015 and has been licensed to practice in the Commonwealth of Virginia since March 2016.
Mara’s clinical experience includes children and adults with a variety of mental and/or physical diagnosis in home settings, outpatient clinics, and inpatient skilled rehabs. Upon completing a clinical internship at Dominion, Mara joined the Dominion staff in 2016 and has since continued her education outside of the classroom by attending workshops and becoming certified in Beckman Oral Motor Therapy and Kinesiology Taping. Mara continues to increase her experience by researching and facilitating areas of practice related to neuromuscular re-education, sensory integration for children with autism, and social skills for increased independence and participation in daily activities.
Karen M. Nettemeyer, M.S., CCC-SLP
Karen Nettemeyer is a Licensed Speech-Language Pathologist in the Commonwealth of Virginia. She received a Bachelor of Science degree in Speech Pathology from a Longwood College/ University of Virginia co-op program. She received her Master of Science degree in Speech Pathology from James Madison University. She has the certificate of Clinical competence in Speech/Language Pathology from the American Speech – Language -Hearing Association. Karen also earned her certification to teach preschool handicapped students from Old Dominion University in 1994, and also holds a Commonwealth of Virginia Postgraduate Professional License (Pre-K – 12).
Karen’s experience includes more than 30 years as a Speech Pathologist in the Newport News Public Schools and four years as a Preschool Handicapped teacher at PEEP (Program for the Education of Exceptional Preschoolers). She has worked with children from the Preschool years to 12th grade with a variety of diagnoses and speech language disorders. She has also worked in numerous residential rehabilitation settings with adult population.
Karen is a member of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) and the Speech-Language-Hearing Association of Virginia (SHAV). She joined the staff of Dominion Pediatric in May of 1998.
Benita C. Patrick, M.A., SLP
Benita C. Patrick is a Licensed Speech-Language Pathologist in the Commonwealth of Virginia. She earned a Bachelor of Science in Speech-Language Pathology from the University of Virginia and earned a Master of Arts in Communicative Sciences and Disorders from Hampton University. She holds the Commonwealth of Virginia licensing with the Board of Audiology and Speech-Language Pathology.
Benita’s experience includes 11 years as a Speech Language Pathologist in the Hampton Public Schools and 15 years as a Speech Language Pathologist in the Hampton Public Schools and 15 years as a Speech-Language Pathologist with York County Public Schools. She has worked with school age children from preschool to high school with various speech and language disorders.
She joined Dominion Physical Therapy in February 2015.