Dr Susan Mitchell
Profiles

Dr Susan Mitchell

Lecturer in Occupational Therapy (Education)

School of Health Professions (Faculty of Health)

Module Teacher on various modules of undergraduate and postgraduate occupational therapy programmes
Supervisor of undergraduate and Masters research projects
Partaker in a variety of activities necessary for successful student education - assessment, supervision etc.
Personal tutor for undergraduate & postgraduate students at all year levels
External Examiner for pre-reg MScOT at another University
Member of research group ' Participation in Everyday Life'
Member of Royal College of Occupational Therapists (MRCOT)
Practising Children's Occupational Therapist

Qualifications

Doctor of Philosophy University of Exeter (2001)

Diploma College of Occupational Therapists
Associate of the London College of Music 
Licentiate of the Guildhall School of Music London
Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (SFHEA)
2020 STARR award - highly commended 2020 for creative teaching category
Member of Royal College of Occupational Therapists (MRCOT)
Practising Children's Occupational Therapist
Extensive clinical background in paediatrics - children & teenagers in mainstream schools (DCD, ASD, other motor-sensori-perceptual issues), children with disabilities in specialist residential school (CP, MD, SB, OI, arthrogryphosis)
Currently engaged in part-time private practice with children and young people 
Keen interest in the concept of participation and occupation.
Clinical experience with people with spinal injury and other neurological conditions in National Medical Rehabilitation Centre Republic of Ireland
Clinical work with elderly people in hospital and rural community outpatients North West of Ireland.
Many years experience working with children and young people - in a large specialist school for children with physical and associated difficulties and in an clinic setting with children with occupational challenges in mainstream schools - including issues due to cerebral palsy, DCD, dyspraxia, sensory-processing and others. Working in schools with children and young people, SENCO, teachers, parents
   
Teaching experience at undergraduate & postgraduate level on BScOT, MScOT in Exeter.
Previously module leader for Distance Learning Masters programme: Philosophy, Models and Frames of Reference in Occupational Therapy University of Exeter and University of Plymouth
Visiting speaker on DEdPsych course Exeter University 

Professional membership

Member of the Royal College of Occupational Therapists

Registered with the Health & Care Professions Council
Senior Fellow Higher Education Academy (SFHEA)

Member of the RCOT Specialist Section for Children, Young People & Families
Member of the RCOT Specialist Section for Independent Practitioners
Member of the National Handwriting Association

Roles on external bodies

External Examiner MSc OT Sheffield Hallam University

Link Tutor: Smirthwaite Studentship Award 

Teaching interests

Module Teacher on various modules of undergraduate and postgraduate occupational therapy programmes
Module Leader BSc Occupational Studies: Children and Young People,  Group Research Modules
Module Leader MSc Occupational Studies: Performance and Interruption
Module Leader ADV760 Participation In Everyday Life for Children and Young People
Research Supervision with keen interest in 'Participation' of Children & Young People, intensity and meaning

Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (SFHEA)
2020 STARR award - highly commended 2020 for creative teaching category

Staff serving as external examiners

Sheffield Hallam University MSC (OT)

Research interests

Research interest in 'Participatin' of Children & Young People, intensity and meaning


Children and Young People - access to school curriculum

Participatory approach to intervention planning 

Fine and gross motor skills for primary school children - ability and activity levels

School and home work - handwriting and alternative means of recording

PhD: Children with Developmental Co-ordination Disorder (Dyspraxia): Differential Diagnosis and Intervention

Visual Perceptual skills for school-based occupations

Participatory approach to intervention planning 

Other research

September 2018 Occupational Science Europe Conference Hildesheim Germany: Paper presentation: Occupational Justice: Fine Motor Skills of Primary School Children

Research degrees awarded to supervised students

MSc

Grants & contracts

2015 Commissioned to write Fine Motor Skills programme for use in primary schools throughout Devon

Key publications

Books

HIgh-Five! A fine motor skills programme for children 2017

Mitchell SJ 2017 High Five Fine Motor Skills Programme. First
Conference Papers
Cunningham MJ, Warren A, Krizaj T, Twinley R & Mitchell S 2016 'DEVELOPING PROBLEM BASED LEARNING IN OCCUPATIONAL THERAPY' 2016 - COTEC-ENOTHE Congress 6-/-0/20166-/-0/2016Open access

Reports & invited lectures

June 2018 Bucharest Conference for Health Professions Romania: Paper Presentation Posture and Seating for Children with Cerebral Palsy

June 2018 Transylvania Romania: Introduction to Autism

June 2018 Transylvania Romania: Helping Children with Cerebral Palsy

Other academic activities

Publication of fine motor skills programme: 

2017 HIGH FIVE! A Fine Motor Skills Programme for Children in Primary Schools