Nidhi Petrusa is a Registered Occupational Therapist and owner of Connect D.O.T.S. She has been working with children with disabilities for 7 years. She discovered her love for children when she started volunteering at the Queen Alexandra Centre for Children in Victoria, BC and later as a behavioural interventionist for children with Autism Spectrum Disorder.
Nidhi received her Bachelors of Science in Psychology from the University of Victoria and her Masters of Science in Occupational Therapy from the University of Alberta. During her Masters education, Nidhi completed 5 clinical rotations, one at Sunny Hill Health Centre for Children in Vancouver, working with the assistive devices team and another at Mengo Hospital in Kampala, Uganda where she spent 7 weeks developing individualized programs for children with Autism Spectrum Disorder, Down Syndrome and cerebral malaria.
Nidhi has a special interest in sensory integration, feeding therapies and the development of fine motor and handwriting skills. Nidhi has completed a variety of further education to enhance her practice including:
- Handwriting Without Tears®
- Therapeutic Listening®
- SOS (Sequential Oral Sensory) Approach to Feeding
- Executive Functioning Skills
- Social Thinking® (Incredible Flexible You and Superflex)
- CO-OP (Cognitive Orientation to Occupational Performance) – using cognitive strategies to teach motor performance for children with DCD