Needs Assessment & Community Partners

In January 2019, the four OTD students and their faculty mentor, Dr. Ellen Rainville, met with Dr. Mary Beth Kadlec of the Center for Autism and Neurodevelopmental Disorders at the Eunice Kennedy Shriver Center at University of Massachusetts Memorial Medical Center in Worcester, MA, to discuss doctoral project ideas. During that meeting, Dr. Kadlec identified the need for a pediatric functional cognition assessment and expressed her desire to start working on one. The group then met with Megan Hopper and Lisa Pasternak, who would be the local site mentors. Hopper and Pasternak both agreed that there is a need for a functional cognition assessment for children and stated “this would be useful when determining the need for services in schools or early intervention.”

This plan was formulated prior to COVID-19, which changed the realities of completing our original projects and required us to change course. In the wake of these large changes, we found it increasingly necessary to support our sites, Springfield Public Schools and Behavioral Health Network, in transitioning to an online format due to new federal and state guidelines for social distancing and school closures. By combining our efforts, we created the following document in order to highlight how taking on a consulting and collaborative role to support these programs and their staff would be beneficial during a rapid transition to telehealth delivery of occupational therapy services.

Community Partners

Springfield, Massachusetts