Deputy Assistant Secretary from the Department of Education tours grant winning OTD program
Ruth Ryder, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Education for the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education (OESE), visited the University of the Incarnate Word (UIW) OTD program to tour its brand-new facilities, meet with staff and students, and learn more about the role of occupational therapy in school mental health.
The visit was a follow up to a meeting held while Ms. Ryder attended and presented at the 2024 AOTA Education Summit. Prior to her presentation, she had the opportunity to learn more about the efforts by UIW and the College of St. Scholastica (CSS) funded by the Mental Health Service Professional (MHSP) Demonstration Grant Program, which is administered and overseen by OESE.
Ms. Ryder mentioned how much she enjoyed the rare chance to hear directly from students about their work being funded by the grants. As UIW and CSS were the first two OT programs to receive mental health–specific workforce grant funding from the Department of Education, Ryder asked to visit UIW when she happened to be in San Antonio, Texas, for a conference.
On March 14th, Ms. Ryder had the opportunity to increase her understanding of occupational therapy in its natural environment. The visit, which lasted for more than 2 hours, included a tour and brief overview of the ADL, innovation, and sensory labs provided by the faculty.
The highlight of the visit was the student presentations. Each group provided Deputy Assistant Secretary Ryder with an overview of their work, complete with pictures, samples of student design projects, and even a multimedia component. Their presentations and the time spent creating them were not only voluntary, but took place during their spring break.
Closing out the visit in the sensory lab, the students had a chance to hear directly from Deputy Assistant Secretary Ryder. Ms. Ryder shared her connection to occupational therapy, provided an update on the work of the Department of Education on student mental health, and answered questions. Deputy Assistant Secretary Ryder finished her visit with congratulating the students who had received the highest marks on their presentations from judges earlier in the day.
Why this Matters:
AOTA has been advocating for the Department of Education to state clearly that occupational therapy programs are eligible for the MHSP grant. When the Department of Education’s Office of Elementary and Secondary Education released an updated frequently asked questions to assist potential grant applicants, it included language stating that occupational therapy was eligible for inclusion in the grant program.
Applying for a federal grant can be an intensive process for any OT or OTA program, so the clarification the FAQ document provides will hopefully entice more programs to apply in 2024 and beyond.