Students

Shu-Yuan Hu and Rita Fleming-Castaldy both successfully defended their dissertations in November of 2007. Hu defended “The Sensory Balance Test as a Screening for Possible Sensory Integration Deficits.” In this study, she investigated the relationship between upper extremity stability and motor accuracy in young children.

Fleming-Castaldy also defended her project, “Consumer-Directed Personal Care Assistance (PCA) and Quality of Life for Persons with Disabilities.” Using a survey design, this study compared the perspectives of persons who use a consumer-directed PCA model to those who use an agency-directed one. The relationships found between self-management and satisfaction with PCA and quality of life support the value of consumer-directed PCA programs for disabled persons

Students Biked for MS on Sunday, October 14, 2007. NYU OT students participated in a charity bike ride benefiting the National Multiple Sclerosis Society (NMSS). The MS Bike Tour took riders of all skill levels on routes around the island of Manhattan, with courses ranging between 30 to 100 miles. The NYU team (captained by second-year student Maia Watkins) raised more than $1,300 to support NMSS's educational programs, services, and a national research initiative. Said Assistant Professor Yael Goverover (who also biked in the event), "We would like to thank all the people who supported us by joining our team or donating to this important cause. It is great to know that our students and faculty are involved in community outreach projects."

Joselyn B. Goldstein and Andrea Johnston, students in the Professional M.S. Program, are recipients of Steinhardt’s 2007 Samuel Eshborn Service Award. The Award recognizes graduate students for superlative and extraordinary service work and for displaying the highest standards of leadership in school activities. Goldstein and Johnston were nominated by the Department’s faculty. Congratulations Joselyn and Andrea!

Vaishali Khandare, a student in the Post-Professional Master of Arts Program in Occupational Therapy, was a co-recipient of the Rehabilitation Engineering and Assistive Technology Association of North American (RESNA)’s 2006 Student Design Competition Award for the development of the Smart Hug pressure vest. Vaishali worked on this interdisciplinary project with Heather Dewey-Hagborg of the Tisch School for the Arts’ Interactive Telecommunications Program (ITP).

Smart Hug is an inflatable pressure vest used to treat children with sensory modulation or processing disorders. It automates the process of applying and removing the vest, making the amount of pressure applied to a child’s body consistent day to day. Companion software was also designed enabling data collection about and analysis of the amount of pressure children therapeutically need.

Vaishali and Heather developed the vest as a project for E40.2900 Contemporary Issues in Occupational Therapy: Developing Assistive Technology, a course offered collaboratively by Steinhardt/OT and Tisch/ITP. The National Science Foundation sponsored RESNA’s Student Design Competition, in which five designs were honored from among 50 entrants. The presentation was made at RESNA’s 2006 annual conference in Atlanta, Georgia.

Meira Orentlicher, a Ph.D. candidate in occupational therapy, has received a Dean’s Predoctoral Summer Research Grant for the summer of 2006. She will be studying a process for transitioning and planning from school to adult life for students with disabilities. The process is called "person-centered planning."

The grant is designed to support a specific component of a doctoral student’s dissertation work (such as an instrument development/validation or a pilot study) as one of the components of the dissertation preparation. Recipients prepare a report at the end of the grant period and present their findings at a colloquium in the fall.

2007 Frieda J. Behlen Scholarship
The Frieda J. Behlen Occupational Therapy Scholarship Committee is pleased to announce that second-year students Rebecca Berg and Lauren Selsky have been selected to receive the $$2,500 Scholarship Awards for 2007. Recipients of the scholarship awards have demonstrated superior academic merit as well as financial need. The award is derived from the interest earned on this endowed scholarship fund and funds raised by NYU OT alumni through the efforts of the NYU Occupational Therapy Alumni Board. It is given to two students each year after an application and blind review process.

Students Volunteer in Central Park
Seven students in the Department of Occupational Therapy's professional program volunteered on Tuesday, April 18, 2006, in Central Park for Achilles Track Club (ATC), an international, nonprofit organization that provides support, training, and technical expertise for people with disabilities. The students walked with ATC members and provided assistance when needed. Dick Traum, ATC founder and current president, and an above-the-knee amputee marathoner, participated at the event with the students.

Student Manuals
The student manuals for the NYU Department of Occupational Therapy are easily accessible through the links listed at right. Please be sure to refer to the edition dated for the year that you entered your program of study in the Department of Occupational Therapy. It is the policies contained within that edition which are in effect for you.

Student Resources

The Student Resource Center aims to provide a helpful, welcoming, student-centered environment for NYU students and to educate them on the range of services available through the University.

The Wasserman Center for Career Development facilitates the career development of NYU students and alumni in a supportive and innovative environment.

The Henry and Lucy Moses Center for Students with Disabilities provides comprehensive services and programs for undergraduate and graduate students with hearing and visual impairments, mobility impairments, learning disabilities and attention deficit disorders, chronic illnesses, and psychological impairments.