Recipients 2014
OADD Awards & Scholarship Recipients – 2014
Hull-Roeher Award of Merit
Presented in honour of John Hull and G. Alan Roeher to an individual who has made an outstanding contribution, or special achievement in the area(s) of education, humanitarianism, research or service for those with developmental disabilities.
Dr. Wendy Roberts
Trained at the University of Toronto and The Hospital for Sick Children, Dr. Wendy Roberts followed up a developmental Paediatric Fellowship with eight years of part-time academic and part-time community practice in general and developmental paediatrics before returning to SickKids in a full-time academic position.
Her work with a variety of developmental disorders including ADHD led Dr. Roberts to a special interest in Autism Spectrum Disorder.
She is currently involved in many research projects examining the impact of early identification of autism as well as its’ genetic origins and therapeutic interventions.
Dr. Roberts was instrumental in bringing gold-standard autism assessment protocols to Canada and helped to secure funding for an autism research unit at the Hospital for Sick Children. Education of both research and clinical trainees has formed a significant part of her career and has led to a number of teaching awards.
Dr. Roberts is currently Executive Director of ISAND, Integrated Services for Autism and Neurological Disorders in Toronto, Developmental Paediatrician at the Autism Research Unit at the Hospital for Sick Children as well as Professor Emerita, Department of Paediatrics, University of Toronto.
OADD Award of Excellence
To be presented to an individual who has contributed significantly to better understanding of, or enhanced the quality of life for, those with developmental disabilities.
Karen Klee
Karen worked exclusively with people who have developmental disability and their care providers for over 20 years before beginning a career in 2013 as a full time Professor in the Developmental Services Worker Diploma Program at Fanshawe College in London.
Karen is passionate and motivated to ensure that people with Developmental Disabilities and those that support them have the tools necessary to ensure that the health needs of people with Intellectual disabilities were met at home, at school, in the community and as they travel through the health care system.
She began her career in Paediatrics transitioning from hospital-based services to developmental services and worked supporting medically fragile, technologically dependent individuals.
In her role as Health Care Consultant at Developmental Services Resource Centre in Waterloo Region Karen provided extensive workshops, in-services and information sessions on a wide variety of health related topics. She co-developed and delivered programs on abuse prevention and sexuality education including “Everyone needs to Know About HIV/AIDS”, “Sex-Esteem: Developing Sexuality Confidence” and “Shifting the Paradigm: Integrating Trauma theory into support for people with a Developmental Disability”
Karen’s roles have included being a founding member and Chair of the Sexual Health and Developmental Disabilities Committee of Waterloo region, Chair of the Trauma and Developmental Disabilities Committee of Central West Region, Coordinator for Waterloo Regions’ Abuse Prevention Education Curriculum Committee and Health Consultant for MCSS for the Region of Waterloo and Wellington/Dufferin in the facility closure.
Kay Sansom Scholarships
3 Graduate Students received Kay Sansom Scholarships this year from the qualifying applicants. Each will receive $1,000.00 a certificate and free OADD sustaining membership. Typically there is 1 recipient from each of the following applicant categories: College, Undergraduate and Graduate.
Jessie Patterson – College Level Scholarship
Jessie Patterson is currently enrolled at Georgian College in the DSW program and will be using the scholarship to continue in this program.
Jessie has experience in the field both as a volunteer with Community Living Huronia and as a paid relief worker. Jessie’s kindness and compassion working with people with Developmental Disabilities was highly praised by his employers.
Danielle Naumann – Undergraduate Level Scholarship
Danielle N. Naumann is a PhD candidate engaging in full-time studies at Queen’s University, School of Rehabilitation. She is an occupational therapist with a mixed practice specializing in the assessment and intervention of developmental disabilities.
Her PhD research focuses on the development and evaluation of a knowledge translation tool that will be used in the primary care environment in order to address the occupational challenges that school-aged children with fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD) and their families face. Together with an inter-professional team of experts in FASD, primary care and physician education, Danielle is creating and evaluating a tool that can be distributed to doctors in order to provide them with the information they require to fulfill this role.
Danielle intends to use the Kay Sansom scholarship to pursue several courses offered through the College of New Caledonia’s FASD Advanced Diploma program that will help her to gain knowledge that can support her understanding of the lived experience of FASD.
There were no successful applicants for the Graduate level scholarship for 2014