I’m Jhoanna Rae and I’m a Physical Therapist with more than two decades in practice, with the last decade dedicated to pediatrics across a wide range of developmental, neurologic, and complex medical needs.
My work spans the pediatric continuum and the settings where children actually live and learn, including hospital based care, outpatient practice, early intervention, home based services, and school related support.
A significant part of my clinical work includes pediatric cystic fibrosis care, supporting children in both acute and outpatient settings. I also support families navigating chronic illness, neurodevelopmental conditions, genetic syndromes, and complex medical journeys, from NICU infants through teens and young people preparing to transition into adulthood.
In 2024, I served as a panel speaker at the North American Cystic Fibrosis Conference, presenting on strategies to strengthen multidisciplinary care in cystic fibrosis.
More than two decades in this work has taught me that the most important thing a practitioner can do is stay present with the person in front of them. Not the diagnosis. Not the milestone checklist. The actual child, on the actual day, in the actual family they belong to.
That is where care begins here. And it is where the learning never stops for me either.
Every family I work with teaches me something. That is not a posture I perform. It is the reason this practice keeps growing in the directions it does. The integrative lens, the nervous system focus, the parent coaching, none of it came from a curriculum alone. It came from paying attention to what children and families actually needed when the standard approach wasn't quite enough.
Every layer of this practice arrived because something was missing in the one before it. Not missing as in broken. Missing as in incomplete. A child would present something that one way of knowing addressed but didn't fully reach. A family would need a kind of support that lived just outside the edges of what one framework could hold.
So the listening kept expanding. Each discipline added a different way of entering the same person. A different understanding of what the body is asking for when it cannot find ease on its own.
The practice is not finished learning. That is not a limitation. That is the whole point.
Core credentials and training most central to my clinical work, supported by ongoing professional development across pediatric care.
Bachelor of Science in Physical Therapy, Velez College
Integrative Nutrition Health Coach certification, Institute of Integrative Nutrition
Credentialed Clinical Instructor, American Pysical Therapy Association
Master and Doctor of Acupuncture, Chinese Herbal Medicine Program, Won Institute of Graduate Studies
HeartMath® certified practitioner; Therapeutic Pain Neuroscience education
Yoga and meditation trainings, trauma informed care, children, prenatal and postpartum wellness
I aim to make pediatric care clearer and easier to carry. That means prioritizing what matters most, explaining the why in plain language, and building strategies that fit the child’s nervous system and the family’s real schedule.
Development first
Safety before skill
Clear goals tied to function
Carryover built into every plan
Clear priorities and next steps
Goals tied to function and participation
Care plans matched to family capacity
Support that translates to home and school carryover
Communication that is brief, specific, and useful
If you are ready, we would be honored to be in the next part of your child's story with you.
