Early Admission Decision application deadline: February 15, 2013
Final application deadline: March 25, 2013
The semester begins: May 6, 2013

Rocky Mountain University of Health Professions is pleased to present a post-professional Doctor of Occupational Therapy (OTD) program with a specialization in pediatrics. The occupational therapist will have the option of choosing pediatric elective track courses that emphasize school-based practice or neonatal/early intervention practice settings. The program is designed to provide meaningful, obtainable, and affordable post-professional education and facilitate the development of the 21st century occupational therapist practitioner. The goal of Rocky Mountain University of Health Professions is to address the public's need for high quality occupational therapy service by providing practicing clinicians with opportunities to develop knowledge, skills, and behaviors commensurate with evidence-based practice and emerging educational standards.

The primary purpose of the post-professional OTD program is to raise the knowledge base of practicing occupational therapists to equal that of colleagues with the new entry-level OTD degree. The OTD program will broaden the student's perspective to include current topics of occupation-centered theory and practice, evidence-based decision-making, qualitative research methods, and instructional technology. In addition, the program will highlight aspects of pediatric science to include topics in oral-motor and feeding impairments and sensory processing applicable to school-based or early intervention practice settings.

Potential students for the OTD program include those with entry-level bachelor's or master's degrees in occupational therapy. Students may be practitioners or academicians interested in raising their knowledge base, expanding their practice area, or seeking advancement within their current setting. The pediatric elective track is designed for pediatric therapists who desire academic content relative to their practice area.

The OTD program is committed to the development of the occupational therapist who can:

• Apply the knowledge, skills and abilities necessary to make independent judgments about the validity of research and implement evidence-based clinical practice.
• Influence local, regional, national, and international policy, practice, and education through advocacy, consultation, and practice of occupational therapy with individuals, populations and organizations.
• Exercise high-level curiosity, critical thinking, continuous learning, reflection, and analytical methodologies to seek and use resources and evidence to improve effectiveness of clinical interventions.
• Apply ethical theories and legal standards to decision-making regarding healthcare issues.
• Exchange and disseminate knowledge through consultation, peer-reviewed publication and presentation, collaboration, and collegial and interdisciplinary dialogue.
• Develop and implement theoretically and philosophically sound clinical interventions informed by scientific evidence, contextual influences and clinical knowledge.