New Perspectives in Autism with Moira Peña, OT Reg. Ont Artwork

Battles and Blessings

Battles and Blessings is a Canadian Occupational Therapy Podcast hosted by Susan Cherian-Joseph OT Reg. Ont. who is an OT and an Autism mom. The podcast has been launched to expand conversations between professionals and parents who work and support Autistics and the Neurodivergent community. At OT4Kidz, the mission is knowledge translation to professionals such as Occupational Therapists, Speech-Language Pathologists, Educators, Child and Youth Workers, and Social workers as well as parents and the kiddos themselves. This is hoped to be achieved through discussions on the latest research, evidence-based frameworks, and trauma-informed practices to ensure that our kiddos are being equipped and transformed to their perceived best version of themselves with us as the professionals being their agents of change and coaches along this journey!!

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Battles and Blessings

New Perspectives in Autism with Moira Peña, OT Reg. Ont

April 02, 2022 • Susan Cherian-Joseph • Season 1 • Episode 1

It’s so key for any kind of therapy or treatment to be personalized, patient-centered and goal-driven. - Susan Joseph

Autism is a beautiful spectrum. Unfortunately, there is still a huge gap between awareness and understanding, at least the kind of understanding that betters the situation and provides a supportive and nurturing community.

I’m truly blessed to have this week a fine practitioner and colleague in the Occupational Therapy space but also a dear friend and fellow advocate. Moira Peña has dedicated her life to working with individuals who experience sensory processing, behavioral and emotional challenges.

Listen in as Moira and I cover crucial topics that have and continue to contribute to the advancement of how we approach autism and everyone on the spectrum.

Blessed Wisdom:

The brain of an autistic person is not different than the brain of a person who has ADHD or OCD. There are just these different dimensions. That's very important in supporting what occupational therapists do because we use a holistic lens. The science supports what we do and how we work with families to best support the autistic person. - Moira Peña
It’s so key for any kind of therapy or treatment to be personalized, patient-centered, and goal-driven. - Susan Joseph
Imagine when you're not your authentic self and you're always having to pretend you're someone else, just how exhausting that is and how that really has an impact on your mental health. - Moira Peña
We have research to show that co-occurring mental health conditions are more prevalent in the autism population than in the general population. - Moira Peña
87% of people on the autism spectrum experience, anxiety, to such an extent that they meet the criteria for an anxiety disorder. So it really does get in the way of occupation of function. - Moira Peña
It's not just about autism acceptance and awareness. We have to include autistic and all neurodivergent communities into our lives. Because we're all different, but not less. We're just different. - Susan Joseph

About the Guest

Moira Peña, BScOT, MOT Reg. (Ont.) is an experienced occupational therapist from Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital. She works with children and adolescents diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and/or other developmental disorders or delays. She has dedicated her career to working with individuals who experience sensory processing, behavioral and emotional challenges. She is an Expert Hub-Team member of the ECHO Ontario Autism program which aims to build pediatricians’ capacity and ability to screen, diagnose, and manage children and youth with ASD in Ontario.

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