Leigh Ann Arey knew about Easterseals Arkansas long before she worked here. As an occupational therapy student, she had the chance to observe the STAR Program at the Children's Rehabilitation Center and came away with a clear impression: this was an organization where exceptionally skilled therapists showed up every day for children with the highest support needs. She filed that away.
Then her twin daughters were born prematurely.
The Moment That Made It Personal
When her girls needed evaluation through Easterseals Arkansas's High-Risk Infant Monitoring Program, Leigh Ann stopped being an observer and became a parent navigating one of the most uncertain experiences a family can face. She experienced firsthand what that program actually feels like from the other side of the table: the careful coordination, the expertise of the monitoring therapy team, and the guidance of their family resource coordinator, Mandy Farr, who walked them through enrollment and made sure they knew what to do next.
That experience didn't just deepen her respect for Easterseals. It clarified exactly where she wanted to build her career. She joined first as a contract occupational therapist, then moved into a full-time therapy role, and has since grown into her current position as Director of Therapy and Support Services. Fourteen years as a licensed occupational therapist, eight of them in leadership. The twins who were evaluated through that program are now four years old and taking ninja classes and playing softball.
A Clinician Who Also Builds Systems
Leigh Ann's clinical background is in pediatric occupational therapy, with specialized training in hippotherapy and aquatic therapy. She has worked with children from birth through age 21 across a wide range of developmental disabilities. But her role today is less about individual sessions and more about making sure every family that walks through the door gets the same level of care her family received.
"I enjoy looking at complex challenges from multiple perspectives, identifying opportunities for improvement, and building systems that better support both the people we serve and the teams providing care," she says. That's a clinical mindset applied at an organizational scale: keep the child at the center, find what's blocking access to care, and fix it.
She hopes her coworkers and the families she serves would describe her as insightful, collaborative, and dependable. She also mentions a good sense of humor, which, for anyone leading a team through the complexity of pediatric therapy services, is probably not optional.
North Little Rock Roots, Benton Life
Leigh Ann grew up in North Little Rock and now lives just one county over in Benton with her husband, their four-year-old twin girls, and their five-month-old son. She still crosses the river regularly to visit her parents, and she's quick to say how much it means that her kids are growing up close to their grandparents.
Her ideal day off involves water: the lake, the girls swimming, the whole family outside somewhere. Earlier in her career she volunteered with organizations supporting children, including helping develop curriculum for and serving on the board of a summer camp for kids with autism. These days her time outside work belongs almost entirely to three kids under five, which is its own kind of demanding work.
What She Hopes to Leave Behind
"I hope to be remembered as someone who made a positive impact on the lives of others." For Leigh Ann, that plays out on two levels: the children and families served by Easterseals Arkansas, and the therapy team she leads every day. She wants both to be better for having worked with her.
At Easterseals Arkansas, that's not a small aspiration. It's the whole job.
Pediatric Occupational Therapy in Arkansas: What Easterseals Offers
Easterseals Arkansas provides pediatric occupational therapy, physical therapy, and speech-language therapy to children from newborn through age 18 at its Outpatient Therapy location on Woodland Heights Road in Little Rock. Services also extend to the Academy at Riverdale location with afternoon hours Monday through Friday.
The therapy team works with children across a wide range of diagnoses including autism, Down syndrome, developmental delay, spina bifida, and more. After a physician referral, Easterseals conducts a comprehensive evaluation to determine what services each child needs and builds individualized goals from there. Teletherapy is also available for families when in-person visits aren't possible.
Easterseals Arkansas also operates the state's only High-Risk Infant Monitoring Program, serving premature infants and newborns with diagnosed disabilities in their home or at the Outpatient Services Center. A feeding clinic and applied behavior analysis services round out the team's full scope of care.
If your child has been referred for therapy or you have questions about where to start, contact the Easterseals Arkansas Outpatient Therapy team at 501-227-3600 or visit eastersealsar.com/programs/children/pediatric-outpatient-therapy to learn more.
