What therapy services does Lumiere Children's Therapy provide?

Lumiere Children's Therapy offers comprehensive pediatric services, including speech therapy, occupational therapy, Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA), social work, early intervention, autism testing, teletherapy, and a therapeutic preschool. Our multidisciplinary team collaborates to create personalized treatment plans that support every child's unique developmental journey.

At what age can my child begin therapy?

We serve children from birth through 18 years of age. Early intervention can help address developmental delays before they become more significant, while older children benefit from therapy that supports communication, learning, motor development, emotional regulation, and independence throughout childhood and adolescence.

How do you determine the right therapy plan for my child?

Every child begins with a comprehensive evaluation completed by a licensed therapist. We assess developmental skills, discuss your concerns and goals, and use standardized assessments when appropriate. Based on the results, our team creates a personalized treatment plan that evolves as your child grows and reaches new milestones.

Can my child receive more than one therapy service at the same location?

Yes. Because Lumiere Children's Therapy offers multiple pediatric therapy services under one roof, children can receive coordinated care from speech, occupational, physical, behavioral, and social work professionals. This collaborative approach improves communication among therapists and creates a more consistent experience for families.

Does Lumiere Children's Therapy accept insurance?

We work with many major insurance providers and help families understand their available benefits before therapy begins. Our experienced administrative team assists with insurance verification, claim submissions, billing questions, and payment options, making the process as simple and transparent as possible for parents and caregivers.

What should we expect during our first therapy appointment?

Your first visit focuses on understanding your child's strengths, developmental needs, and family goals. A licensed therapist will complete an evaluation, answer your questions, and explain recommended services. You'll leave with a clear understanding of the next steps and a personalized treatment plan designed for your child.

Why do families choose Lumiere Children's Therapy?

Families choose Lumiere Children's Therapy because we provide individualized care through a collaborative team of experienced pediatric specialists. From evaluations and insurance guidance to ongoing therapy and family education, we're committed to delivering compassionate, evidence-based care that helps children build lifelong skills and confidence.

How can I schedule an evaluation at Lumiere Children's Therapy?

Scheduling an evaluation is quick and straightforward. Simply call our office, send us an email, or complete the contact form on our website. Our friendly team will guide you through every step, including insurance verification, appointment scheduling, and preparing for your child's first visit so you can get started with confidence.

November 4, 2020

Cultivate Your Child’s Development with After-School Enrichment Classes

Advance your child’s competence in a variety of areas, with our classes in handwriting, reading, social development, and more

Life may not go back to what we knew before COVID-19 for some time. However, we are making some strides toward a “new normal.” For instance, schools are finally resuming in-person learning, at least part-time. Schools offering these “hybrid” schedules are allowing students to attend classes on certain days, while conducting remote lessons on others.

Still, there is no doubt that the upheaval and disruption of normal routines has impacted student progress, causing some to fall behind. Learning social skills by interacting with other children has suffered. Children who are already dealing with developmental or behavioral conditions have been particularly affected.

In order to remedy these particular challenges, you may want to consider enrichment classes for your child. Lumiere Children’s Therapy offers a number of specialized Enrichment Classes that can help your child regain or enhance specific skills, including handwriting, reading, and social skills. These programs can be used to supplement in-person therapy or our virtual therapy and learning tools. Our staff is also taking precautions for health and safety.

We’ll review some of these programs below so you can decide if one or more will benefit your child and give you the support you, and they, need during this pandemic.

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Handwriting clubs: learning to write & shine

Handwriting is one of the most necessary basic skills for a child to learn, and how well your child masters it will greatly impact his or her school performance. For children with certain conditions, proper handwriting can be quite a challenge. Our Handwriting Clubs are designed for children who struggle with sensory processing and fine motor deficiencies. The groups are based around the multi-sensory Handwriting Without Tears curriculum.

Our therapists have two goals with these clubs:

Assess and improve pencil grasp, posture, and hand strength
Assess and improve sensory perception skills, including visual perception and proprioception, which is awareness of the body in a space

We also supplement lessons with sensory integration and strengthening exercises, as well as alternative seating, grasping, and table options. Taken as a whole, these lessons can help improve control and handwriting legibility.

Our Handwriting Clubs are divided into five groups based on skill level and age:

Super Scribblers (ages 3-4) – Pre-handwriting lessons, including strokes & shapes
Letter Leaders (ages 4-5) – Uppercase letters, numbers & introduction to lower case letters
Word Wizards (ages 5-6) – Lowercase letters & introduction to writing words
Sentence Starters (ages 7-9) – Introducing sentence structure
Wonderful Writers (ages 10-13) – Brings lessons together to improve and enhance writing skills

Reading groups: Learning to read. Reading to learn!

Reading is fundamental, and children who struggle to master reading in school will struggle with everything else. Lumiere’s Reading Groups are designed by our speech therapists using the Orton-Gillingham approach. This curriculum uses research-based, systematic, and multi-sensory strategies to improve reading, writing, and spelling skills.

The program focuses on six core skills:

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Phonics
Phonemic awareness
Spelling
Vocabulary
Reading fluency
Reading comprehension

Our Reading Groups are divided into two sub-groups based on age:

Bookworms (ages 5-7)

This group focuses on the foundations that will help your child “learn to read.” The purpose is to build phonological, phonemic, and phonics skills, which are the building blocks of reading and spelling.

Skills include:

Rhyme recognition
Syllable awareness
Letter-sound correspondence
Decoding (breaking words into syllables to recognize individual sounds in a word)

Scholars (ages 8-10)

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The purpose of this group is to take a child to a place where he or she is “reading to learn.” We work on reading comprehension, including the ability to answer questions about a passage that has just been read.

Skills include:

Vocabulary knowledge
Reading comprehension
Reading fluency
Spelling rules

SociaLights clubs: Interact and socialize

The ability to interact and socialize with others is a learned skill. A child who struggles with a developmental, emotional, or behavioral condition may also have trouble in social settings. This can make it difficult for these children to form friendships. SociaLights Clubs are designed to help children act and react appropriately in society. This allows them to gain confidence and develop relationships with their teachers and peers. A licensed and certified therapist who is trained to teach social skills leads each group.

There are four specific relation-forming skill sets:

Conversational skills
Problem solving skills
Perspective taking skills (recognizing and relating to the feelings of others)
Cooperative play skills

There are four age-level groups that can help build social skills as your child develops and matures:

Twinkle Stars (ages 2-3) – Turn taking, eye contact, imitation
Shooting Stars (ages 4-5) – Conversation initiation, sharing, problem-solving
Shining Stars (ages 6-8) – Leadership skills, peer collaboration, expressing emotion appropriately
Super Stars (ages 8-11) – Public speaking, group presentation, creating engaging conversation

Developing the skills your child needs

While this pandemic has created many challenges for children who struggle with developmental conditions, there is hope. Lumiere’s enrichment classes can provide enhanced lessons to teach your child essential handwriting, reading, and social skills.

We also provide other comprehensive therapies so children with a wide range of physical, emotional, and developmental conditions can achieve traditional milestones.

Other services include:

Speech therapy
ABA (behavior) therapy
Occupational therapy
Physical therapy
Social work
Augmentative alternative communication
Early intervention
Teletherapy

Lumiere Children’s Therapy is a full-service, multidisciplinary pediatric therapy practice located in Chicago that serves the developmental needs of children from birth to 18 years of age. Learn more about how our team of clinicians works to improve the lives of children and their families.

SUPPORT YOUR CHILD'S DEVELOPMENT

Looking for expert pediatric therapy services? Our team specializes in helping children reach their full potential through compassionate, personalized care.

Book an Appointment → Call (312) 242-1665

Vasilikitsa “Kitsa” Antonopoulos

Vasilikitsa “Kitsa” Antonopoulos, MA, CCC-SLP/L is a licensed speech-language pathologist with over two decades of experience supporting children and families. After earning her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Communication Sciences and Disorders from Saint Louis University, she gained deep clinical expertise working across pediatric hospitals, early intervention programs, and autism therapy settings.

In 2010, Kitsa founded Lumiere Children’s Therapy to create a holistic, collaborative space where children could receive personalized, multidisciplinary care. Her vision continues to guide Lumiere’s dedicated team of therapists, offering speech, occupational, physical, and behavioral therapy and more, to help every child reach their fullest potential.