Helene J. Polatajko is an

occupational therapy Occupational therapy (OT) is a global healthcare profession. It involves the use of assessment and intervention to develop, recover, or maintain the meaningful activities, or ''occupations'', of individuals, groups, or communities. The field of ...

scholar, and

Professor Emerita ''Emeritus'' (; female: ''emerita'') is an adjective used to designate a retired chair, professor, pastor, bishop, pope, director, president, prime minister, rabbi, emperor, or other person who has been "permitted to retain as an honorary title ...

in the department of occupational science and occupational therapy at the University of Toronto's Temerty Faculty of Medicine.

Education

Polatajko completed a Bachelor of Occupational Therapy at McGill University, and a master's and a PhD at the University of Toronto's Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE).

Career

Polatajko's research explored the role of

cognition Cognition refers to "the mental action or process of acquiring knowledge and understanding through thought, experience, and the senses". It encompasses all aspects of intellectual functions and processes such as: perception, attention, thought, ...

in motor-based performance, and led to the development of a daily treatment to enable children with Developmental Coordination Disorder reach occupational therapy goals (titled the Cognitive Orientation to daily Occupational Performance approach). In 2021, Polatajko was appointed as an Officer of the Order of Canada for "significantly advancing the understanding of developmental coordination disorder in children." Polatajko is a fellow of the

Canadian Academy of Health Sciences The Canadian Academy of Health Sciences (CAHS) is one of three national academies that comprise the Council of Canadian Academies (CCA), the highest honour granted to scholars in Canada. The two other CCA academies are the Royal Society of Canada ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Polatajko, Helene Occupational therapists McGill University alumni University of Toronto alumni Academic staff of the University of Toronto Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Officers of the Order of Canada Fellows of the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences