Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital, in partnership with the Ontario Society of Occupational Therapists (OSOT), is excited to host Autism Summit - Occupational Therapy Edition - taking place from Dec. 10 to 14, 2022.

The summit is designed for occupational therapy practitioners, occupational therapy students and other service providers interested in autism. It was created in partnership with the OSOT, and is funded by the Ministry of Children, Community and Social Services (MCCSS) through the Workforce Capacity Fund, which aims to build capacity within the Ontario Autism Program (OAP).

“This is an excellent opportunity to learn and advance your knowledge and skills when supporting children and youth on the autism spectrum,” says Julia Hanigsberg, president and CEO of Holland Bloorview. “We hope that you will all benefit from it and learn helpful strategies and ways in which our communities can better support children and youth on the autism spectrum and their families.”

Moira Peña, occupational therapist and team lead, autism programs & projects at Holland Bloorview, observes that while the summit's content has been designed to meet Ontario's occupational therapists learning needs, as identified in a province-wide survey, other health care and education professionals, autistic people, caregivers and others who may be interested are welcome to attend.

“This summit’s program and accompanying resource toolkit highlight key neurodiversity-affirming concepts and strengths-based models and strategies,” says Moira. “My best hopes are that these two projects will advance your knowledge, confidence and clinical skills needed to best support autistic children and youth and their families.”

The theme of the summit is empowering and enabling a neurodiversity-affirming and strengths-based practice. 36 speakers including national and international experienced occupational therapists, other allied health care professionals, parents of children and youth on the autism spectrum, autistic advocates and other neurodivergent speakers are expected at the summit.
 
The summit is FREE to attend. 

To learn more about the summit, and to register, visit the Autism Summit website.