Meet the OTIS Chairs

Dottie Handley-More, MS, OTR/L, has 20 years of experience in school-based practice and is currently an occupational therapist for the Highline School District in Burien, Washington. She is on the Executive Board of the Highline Education Association. She is a clinical faculty member at the Occupational Therapy Department of the University of Washington and an AOTA representative on the National IDEA Resource Cadre of the federally-funded IDEA Partnerships Projects, U.S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education Programs. Ms. Handley-More has written articles on school-based practice and was an author for the AOTA Online Course: Occupational Therapy in School-Based Practice: Contemporary Issues and Trends. She has presented on a variety of topics including leadership and self-advocacy for occupational therapists, consultation and collaboration, and the OT Practice Framework.

Yvonne Swinth, PhD, OTR/L, FAOTA, is a faculty member at the University of Puget Sound and continues to work one day a week at the University Place School District in Tacoma, Washington. She has more than 20 years of experience in school-based practice and has presented locally, nationally, and internationally on topics related to services for children. She is the editor of the current AOTA online course for school-based therapists: Occupational Therapy in School-Based Practice: Contemporary Issues and Trends. Dr. Swinth is the immediate past chairperson of AOTA's School Systems Special Interest Section (SSSIS) and as served as the education and research liaison to the SSSIS prior to that. She is also an AOTA representative on the National IDEA Resource Cadre of the federally funded IDEA Partnership Projects, U.S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP). She has presented internationally and nationally on topics related to school-based practice, and has authored several book chapters and articles specific to service delivery in the schools.

Sara Woodward, MEd, MOT, OTR/L is currently a supervisor of special education in the Clover Park School District in Lakewood, Washington. Some of her responsibilities include the supervision of special education preschool programs within the district as well as the supervision of occupational therapists. She received her Master of Occupational Therapy degree from the University of Puget Sound in 1999 and Master of Educational Administration from University of Washington, Tacoma in 2005. She has published research on handwriting in AJOT and has held leadership and service positions at the local, state, and national levels.