University of Kansas Occupational Therapy Education

09/08/2026

✨ Learning Through Collaboration! ✨

On Monday, August 31st students in OTDE 730 Population Health and Wellness experienced a great example of OTR and COTA collaboration in action!

Dr. Adriana Queiroz, OTR/L, introduced students to the Pizzi Health and Wellness Assessment (PHWA) and Manfred Max-Neef’s Matrix of Human Needs, encouraging students to explore these tools for themselves.

Danielle Malan, COTA/L, CEO of The Solutions Broker(focusonlovingyourself.com), then demonstrated how this knowledge can be translated into practice through a wellness intervention.

We love hands-on learning, collaboration, and seeing our students connect classroom concepts to real-world occupational therapy practice! 💙💛

09/02/2026

Sharing this great opportunity from a wonderful organization! 💙 If you’re looking for a way to get involved and give back, consider volunteering for this event. It’s a great way to support the community, meet others, and make a difference! 🙌

Check out the original post below for more details! ⬇️

SIGN UP: We need volunteers for the Step Up for Down Syndrome Walk (Saturday, Oct. 3) to help with an array of duties throughout this special day. You can sign up at www.stepupwalk.org and we will be in touch about specific volunteer needs.

This event would not be possible without our selfless volunteers -- thank you for your time and talent as we celebrate individuals with Down syndrome and their families.

08/24/2026

OT Alumni—Want to Put Your Expertise to Work? 👀

KUMC PT is looking for OT consultants to join a fun interdisciplinary learning experience with our hybrid DPT students!

And the best part? It’s completely virtual!

We’re looking for OTs who can bring their clinical perspective to a PT case discussion. No prep-heavy commitment—we provide the case and talking points, and you bring your OT expertise!

Here’s what it looks like:

🧠 Case #1: Acute Care
Review an acute care case with the PT students and discuss it from the OT perspective.
• What did the PT students miss?
• What questions would OT ask?
• What information could the family provide to help fill in the gaps?

🏠 Case #2: Discharge Planning
Two weeks later, the students follow the same patient into inpatient rehab and begin planning for discharge. We provide the case and a link to the patient’s home environment.

From an OT perspective:
• What concerns do you have?
• What should PT be thinking about?
• What might impact the patient’s safety and independence at home?

🎙️ And it’s PODCAST STYLE!
Everything is virtual, conversational, and recorded. No formal presentation required! Each meeting should take about 20 minutes!

If you’re a KUMC OT alum who would enjoy sharing your perspective and helping future PTs think more collaboratively, we’d love to have you!

👉 Interested or know other OTs who might be interested? Send Crystal a message to learn more at [email protected]!

Your clinical expertise is all you need! 💙

08/19/2026

🎉 We’re on Instagram! 🎉

The KU Department of Occupational Therapy Education now has an official Instagram account! 💙❤️

Follow us for a closer look at our students, faculty, education, events, admissions updates, and all the things happening within our community!

👉 Follow us on Instagram:

Help us get our new page started by following, sharing, and inviting your fellow students, alumni, colleagues, and future OTs to join us!

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08/14/2026

SHOUT OUT to our OTDE Class of 2027 students who are kicking off their 2nd Level II Fieldwork this fall! 🙌

This is the first wave of our Class of 2027 students starting their fieldwork, and we are so excited to see all they will learn and accomplish as they gain hands-on experience across a variety of practice settings! 💙

📍 Fieldwork Placements:
* PEWC
* Salina Regional
* Children’s Therapy Services
* St. Luke’s Rehab Institute
* North Kansas City Hospital — Acute Care
* Madonna
* Kansas City Developmental Therapies
* University Health Truman Medical Center — Acute Care
* Kingman Healthcare Center
* Lawrence Memorial Hospital — Pediatrics
* AdventHealth Shawnee Mission — Acute Care
* ANW
* Playabilities
* KU Driving/JaySTART
* TARC
* ASF
* Mid-America Rehab Hospital

We are so proud of you, Class of 2027! We can’t wait to see the impact you make during this next step in your OT journey. 💙🖐️ Good luck! 🌟

08/11/2026

🎉 Congratulations to our authors on their new publication in Autism!

We are excited to celebrate the publication of “Health Care Transition Experiences for Rural and Urban Autistic Adolescents and Young Adults: A Qualitative Analysis.”

Congratulations to Alice Zhang, Ph.D., BCBA-D, LBA-KS; Makenna Snyder, OTR/L; and Wafaa Alduraidi, MS, OT, along with their internal and external collaborators, on this important contribution to the field!

The study explores the health care transition experiences of autistic adolescents and young adults across rural and urban communities and highlights factors that may influence transition planning and support.

👏 Congratulations to all of the authors on this accomplishment! We are proud to celebrate your work and its impact on improving health care transition experiences for autistic young people.

Learn more by visiting:https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/13623613261472991?utm_source=chatgpt.com)

Health care transition (HCT) is underexplored among autistic adolescents and young adults (AYAs). We explored autistic AYAs’ HCT experiences through virtual sem...

07/30/2026

We have 9 days left to meet our fundraising goal!

Please consider donating to Sensory Enhanced Aquatics here:

Help us raise $15,000 to prevent drowning! Program Manager Kayla Hamner will match the first $1,000 in donations this year. Every gift saves lives—double your impact today! Vision: It is our vision that ALL individuals with autism have access to quality, affordable swim lessons that meet their l...