Grace DeGrado, OTD, OTR/L
Occupational Therapist
Grace is a registered and licensed occupational therapist who is passionate about helping children thrive. She specializes in sensory processing and integration, using personalized, play-based approaches to support each child’s development and self-regulation.
With experience in both private practice and school-based settings, Grace understands how to meet children where they are and to partner closely with families, teachers, and caregivers. She is dedicated to providing practical, effective sensory strategies that can be used at home, in school, and in everyday life.
Grace received her Doctorate in Occupational Therapy from Tufts University. Prior to her graduate education, Grace was a DeWitt Wallace Reader’s Digest Fellow at NYU Langone and received a Bachelor of Science in Biology from Loyola University of Maryland. Her clinical education includes working for the Department of Education in New York City to provide occupational therapy to elementary and adolescent-aged children.
She has extensive experience advocating for services, supporting children and their families, as well as educating teachers and caregivers on the importance of using sensory strategies to improve processing and self-regulation. Grace has experience working with children who have regulation challenges, fine and gross motor delays resulting from: ASD, ADHD, Down Syndrome, and other Genetic Conditions, Developmental Delays, Dyspraxia, Sensory
Processing Disorders, Cerebral Palsy, Learning Disabilities, Dyslexia, Dyspraxia, and other handwriting difficulties, Low tone/hypotonia, Feeding and Oral Motor challenges.
While in Boston, Grace was part of an innovative research team that studied virtual reality as a treatment method, and she was published in the Clinical Journal of Pain in June 2022.
Baker, N. A., Hixon Polhemus, A., Haan Ospina, E, Feller, H., Zenni, M., Deacon, M., DeGrado, G., Basnet, S., & Driscoll, M.(2022). The state of the science in the use of virtual reality in the treatment of acute & chronic pain: A systematic scoping review. The Clinical Journal of Pain 38(6). Pp. 424-441.
Massachusetts Association of Occupational Therapists (MAOT) Poster Presentation Becker, J. K., DeGrado, G. A., Grey, S., Lubic, S., Rothman, S., Morris, M., Baker, N., Marfeo, E. (2020). The effects of exercise on academic outcomes in school-aged children: A scoping review
Originally accepted as a 30-minute speaker presentation, however, pivoted to a virtual poster presentation due to COVID-19