Best Practice Occupational Therapy for Children and Families in Community Settings

Winnie Dunn, PhD, OTR, FAOTA is Professor and Chair of the Department of Occupational Therapy Education at the University of Kansas. Dr. Dunn holds a bachelor’s degree in occupational therapy and a Master of Science degree in special education-learning disabilities from the University of Missouri. She earned her doctorate in Applied Neuroscience from the University of Kansas. She is a fellow of the American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA), has received the Award of Merit for outstanding service contributions to the profession, is a member of the Academy of Research of the American Occupational Therapy Foundation (AOTF), has received the A. Jean Ayres Research Award for her outstanding contributions to knowledge development, and was the Eleanor Clarke Slagle Lecturer in 2001 for her significant contributions to “conceptual and evidence based neuroscience research and practice.” She has served on the Commission on Practice, the Early Intervention, and School Based Practice Task forces of AOTA, has been the chair of the Research Development Committee of the AOTF, and has served on the National Board for Certification of Occupational Therapy (NBCOT). Dr. Dunn has written extensively about service provision practices for children and families, with more than 100 articles and numerous books and book chapters to her credit. She also teaches internationally, serving as visiting professor in numerous programs around the world. Through her research, she has demonstrated the effectiveness of consultation and the use of theory to guide contextually relevant practice. Her line of research about sensory processing in daily life has been very fruitful, producing the family of Sensory Profile assessments that identify distinct patterns of sensory processing in various groups of infants, toddlers, children, youth, adults, and older adults. These assessments are used internationally by professionals in many disciplines, and they have been translated into dozens of languages for use in research and practice programs. Most recently, she wrote a book for the public based on this research. Living Sensationally: Understanding Your Senses has been covered in international media and is currently translated into German and will soon be available in Hebrew.

Dedication Acknowledgments About the Author Contributing Authors Introduction Preface From the First Edition Preface Chapter 1 Best Practice Philosophy for Community Services for Children and Families Chapter 2 Impact of Federal Policy on Services for Children and Families in Early Intervention Programs and Public Schools Chapter 3 Clinical Reasoning for Best Practice Services for Children and Families Chapter 4 Using Frames of Reference and Practice Models to Guide Practice Chapter 5 Structure of Best Practice Programs Chapter 6 Best Practice Occupational Therapy Evaluation Chapter 7 Developing Intervention Plans That Reflect Best Practice Chapter 8 Designing Best Practice Services for Children and Families Chapter 9 Case Studies Applying Best Practices in Community Programs Financial Disclosures Index