In this episode, we sit down with Frances “Fran” Esteves, an Occupational Therapist with nearly 19 years of experience serving students across the Rio Grande Valley. Fran shares how her lifelong connection to movement — from dancing with a semi-professional ballet company to teaching classical ballet in North Dakota and coaching rhythmic gymnastics in McAllen — shaped her passion for working with children of all abilities.

She reflects on her years teaching general and adaptive PE for Edinburg CISD, the moment she discovered occupational therapy, and how school-based practice became her calling. Fran talks about the realities of working across public, charter, and private schools, as well as in pediatric clinics in both Hidalgo and Cameron counties.

Throughout the conversation, Fran offers insight into what students truly need, the challenges therapists face in schools, and why supporting kids’ functional skills is her life’s mission. Today, she continues that mission full-time with a local district — and she brings all that experience to this powerful, inspiring episode.