17c起草社区

In honor of National Occupational Therapy Month, 17c起草社区 is spotlighting the founders of this integral field. 聽17c起草社区 looks forward to spreading OT awareness this month and every month.

Eleanor Clark Slagle

Born: October 13, 1871, Hobart, NY

Died: September 18, 1942, Getty Square, Yonkers, NY

Eleanor Clark Slagle is known as the mother of Occupational Therapy. 聽She began studying at the Chicago School for Civics and Philanthropy in 1911. 聽It was while visiting at the Kankakee State Hospital in Illinois that she became inspired to work in occupational therapy. She went to Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, MD in 1912. 聽Slagle founded and began directing the department of occupational therapy there. 聽Up until this period, the medical and healthcare fields did not take occupational therapy seriously. 聽So she began working to promote the field of occupational therapy as a professional occupation.

During the third annual meeting of the National Society for the Promotion of Occupational Therapy, the committee elected Eleanor Clark Slagle president. 聽She became the first female president of OT. 聽Additionally, she later served as the secretary of AOTA for 15 years. 聽Slagle used habit training to help mentally ill patients engage in structured occupations. In 1922, she established the headquarters of the American Occupational Therapy Association in New York. 聽For the next twenty years, she served as occupational therapy director at the New York State Department of Mental Hygiene.聽 In her lifetime, she trained over 4000 OTs.聽 The Eleanor Clarke Slagle Lectureship Award of the American Occupational Therapy Association is named in her honor.