Rita Arpino Patterson, OTR/L
Registered and Licensed Occupational Therapist
Education: B.S Occupational Therapy
Magna Cum Laude

1976:
Background: Rita was raised in an Italian speaking family and lived with her parents and brother in Boston for all of her young life, and until she graduated from college. In June of 1976, Rita graduated with Magna Cum Laude from Boston University/ Sargent College of Allied Health professions with a B.S in Occupational Therapy. Rita has practiced as a registered and licensed occupational therapist since January 1977.

1977-78:
Henry Phipps Clinic, Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore, MD.
Rita’s first position as a staff occupational therapist was in psychiatry at John’s Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, working with children and adults. In this setting Rita lead many time of group therapy; including relaxation exercise groups, craft groups, assertive training groups, and socialization groups. Other responsibilities included documentation, patient /peer review and reporting patient’s progress at physician’ rounds and general staff daily meetings.

1978-80:
Hospital For Sick Children, Washington, D.C.
Rita began her specialization in pediatric occupational therapy at “Hospital For Children” in Washington DC. Here Rita provided occupational therapy evaluation and treatment of inpatients and outpatients as well as being instrumental in developing the TEDI Program (The Therapeutic Educational Day Care for Handicapped Infants). At this unique intermediate care facility, Rita experienced firsthand success and gained experience utilizing a variety of pediatric occupational therapy frames of reference to provide occupational therapy assessments and  treatment. Many of the o.t tools and treatment modalities were taken from both traditional and non-traditional learning, behavior and motor developmental theories. One of the more progressive non-traditional occupational therapy frames of references utilized in this setting was specifically “sensory integration therapy”. At this hospital using this frame of reference; Rita witnessed significant changes in growth and development using the state of the art s.i. treatment techniques. In addition sometimes an ‘eclectic treatment approach” was used incorporating other more traditional occupational therapy frames of reference and treatment strategies such as: neurodevelopmental treatment techniques (NDT), biomechanical  approach, sensory retraining, neuromuscular coordination facilitation techniques; all using Bobath and Rood Motor Developmental Theories; as well as Piaget’s and Erickson’s stages of development. At this intermediate care facility, Rita worked with infants and children of all ages diagnosed with both subtle and more severe neuromotor and physical challenges both on an inpatient and outpatient basis. 

Some of the diagnoses treated at this setting included; children with varying types of neurological and neuromuscular disorders; and learning and behavior disorders. Some of the medical diagnoses included (but not exclusive): Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, Failure to Thrive, Developmental Delays, Down’s Syndrom, Cerebral Palsy, Hydrocephalus, Closed Head Injuries, Spina Bifida, and other congenital anomalies. Some of the children with learning and behavior disorders; carried diagnoses such as Autism, Aspergers, PDD Pervasive Developmental Disorders, ADHD Attention Deficit with and without Hyperactivity, and prematurely. Rita also worked with infants and children born with neurologically impairments, and prematurely as well as those born with fetal exposure to drug addiction.  

1980-1987:
Anne Arundel County Health Department, Annapolis, MD.
As a full- time employee of Anne Arundel County Health Department, Rita provided occupational therapy services to the county public schools; including the special centers, early childhood intervention program and the infant and toddler program. After seven years of providing services to the county schools and utilizing the educational model, Rita realized her desire, strong interest and passion was using the medical rehabilitative model in occupational therapy, and therefore left the public service and switched to working in medical private practices and clinics.

1981-1983: Specialized Training
Southern California Sensory Integration Certification:
Concurrently, while employed by the County health Department, Rita obtained advanced training and certification to administer and interpret testing in the specialized field of sensory integration, by Sensory Integration International, Inc., Torrance, California.

1987-Present:
Founder of “Occupational Therapy Services for Children” / “Therapy Solutions for Children”.  Rita opened her pediatric occupational therapy private practice while working in other occupational therapy medical clinics in the Washington D.C / Metropolitan area. At this time Rita started her own pediatric occupational therapy private practice in the Anne Arundel County which started in the basement of her home.

Rita started her private practice specializing and emphasizing in providing state of the art “sensory integration assessment and treatment” in pediatric occupational therapy; but also providing more traditional medically based Occupational therapy assessments and treatments as well. Population targeted for her practice included children with both minimal and more involved neurological processing disorders. The range of spectrum of disorders included the minimally involved who are “typically” growing children with subtle learning and/or neuromotor challenges to the more neurologically involved or learning disabled child with “atypical” development  and more severe motor /learning/behavioral challenges. Currently Rita’s practice has a new name: “Therapy Solutions for Children, Inc.”  with services remaining the same providing pediatric occupational therapy services to children.

Rita works as the “Clinical Director” training and mentoring new staff and O.T students in the field of occupational therapy. Rita also provides direct occupational therapy evaluations and treatment to infants, preschoolers, and children of all ages. Currently “Therapy Solutions for Children” employs 10 part time/ full time occupational therapists who are also highly trained and experienced specialists in pediatrics with a specialty in providing sensory integration therapy. Rita also provides professional consultations and in-service training to both in-house staff and other professionals and parents in the community and in various fields. “Therapy Solutions for Children” currently accepts student fieldwork contracts for in house training and mentorship with Towson State University Occupational Therapy Masters Program.

Concurrently while building her practice, Rita continued to gain expertise in her field by working part time/full time in various other public and private institutions which includes the following:

1987-89:
The Mid-Shore Special Education Consortium, Centreville, MD.
Rita was involved with providing educationally based occupational therapy services to the public elementary and middle schools, The Parent-Infant Program and the Child Find Program.

1989-91:
The Lab School of Washington, D.C., Washington, D.C.
Rita was involved in providing both educational and rehabilitative occupational therapy services to the pediatric population which included school based and clinic based (private practice) settings. Here, Rita sharpened her expertise in using state-of-the-art evaluation and treatment techniques in sensory integration.

1991 to  April 2007: Occupational Therapy Services for Children, Inc. /Therapy Solutions for Children, Inc.

                Provided on going occupational therapy assessments and treatments to the community as well as in services and mentorship. At this time, clinic was housed in the basement of Rita’s home while maintaining employment  with 5 other part time/ full time o.t practitioners.

May 2007 to Present: Therapy Solutions for Children, Inc.  Practice moved to it’s current location offering state of the art occupational therapy services.

Previous professional activities include:

·         Co-chairman of the D.C. Occupational Therapy Pediatric Special Interest Group

·         Trained field research tester for the standardization of the Miller Screening for Preschoolers (The Miller First Step).

·         Specialized training in the administration and interpretations of the Southern California Sensory Integration Tests (SCSIT) Battery.

Ongoing member of:

·         The American Occupational Therapy Association

·         The Maryland Occupational Therapy Association

·         Sensory Integration international, The Ayres Clinic, Torrance, CA.

(A list of on-going professional workshops attended can be provided upon request.)

Rita’s Commitment to Practice:
As a registered and licensed occupational therapist, Rita is committed to her profession’s goal in providing the optimal level of quality of care while facilitating the highest level of function and learning. This includes teaching others to understand the unique sensory processing of each child to better understand the child’s learning style and to facilitate learning and development. Another main objective is promote awareness and understanding about sensory integration and its impact on children with (and without) learning disabilities, attention deficit disorder, autism, and pervasive developmental disorder. Rita is committed to making a positive difference in every child’s life.