Helene Polatajko

Dr. Polatajko is an internationally respected occupational therapy scholar and teacher and a valued mentor. She has well over 300 publications, has done over 550 presentations in more than 20 countries, and has held over $10,000,000 in grants. Her work has focused on occupation and its enablement. Prominent among her contributions are co-authorship on the internationally acclaimed Canadian Occupational Performance Measure and the two Enabling Occupation books, and leading the creation and development of the Cognitive Orientation to daily Occupational Performance approach. Dr. Polatajko has been granted numerous top awards and distinctions including the Muriel Driver Lectureship, election to The American Occupational Therapy Foundation’s Academy of Research and being named as a Fellow to the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences. 

Recent Publications

1. Gimeno, H., Brown, R. G.., Lin, J.O., Cornelius, V., & Polatajko, H. J. (2019) Cognitive approach to rehabilitation in children with hyperkinetic movement disorders post-DBS. Neurology (accepted, Oct 2018)
2. Blank, R. , Barnett, A. L., Cairney, J. , Green, D. , Kirby, A. , Polatajko, H. , Rosenblum, S. , Smits‐Engelsman, B. , Sugden, D. , Wilson, P. and Vinçon, S. (2019), International clinical practice recommendations on the definition, diagnosis, assessment, intervention, and psychosocial aspects of developmental coordination disorder. Dev Med Child Neurol. doi:10.1111/dmcn.14132
3. Wong, S.R., Fan, C.W., & Polatajko, H.J. (2019). Exploring culture and therapeutic communication:  Lessons from an American and Singaporean study. American Journal of Occupational Therapy, 74 (3), XXXX
4. Pontes, T. B., de Almeida, C. P., Polatajko, H. J., & Davis, J. A. (2018). Differences and similarities in the occupational repertoire of children from Brazil and Canada. Journal of Occupational Science. https://doi.org/10.1080/14427591.2018.1528173
5. Stewart, K. E., Du Mont, J., & Polatajko, H. J. (2018). Applying an occupational perspective to women’s experiences of life after sexual assault: A narrative review. Journal of Occupational Science. Advance online publication. doi:10.1080/14427591.2018.1516159