Fellow's Profile
Saskia Grassie
Fellow's Profile
Saskia Grassie
How occupational therapy and dental team collaboration can support autistic children’s oral health
Fellowship
- Themes
- Focus
-
Working together to help autistic children access and take part in routine, preventative oral care
- Countries
- Fellowship year
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2026
- Locality
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North East
Contact
Biography
I am a freelance occupational therapist (OT) with many years' experience within the NHS supporting the health and development of children and young people. Collaborating on meaningful participation in oral hygiene and healthier eating and drinking has been core to family-centred work on self-care, with strong focus on the needs of the neurodivergent community. Most recently, I collaborated with University of Leeds on the toothPASTE digital support package.
My Fellowship brings together career-long interests, deep caring about health inequalities and concern about the barriers faced by autistic children and their families when accessing preventative high street dental care.
The focus of my Fellowship is to learn from pioneering collaborations between OTs, dental teams, researchers, educators and non-profits - collaborations which have developed innovative approaches including interprofessional education and sensory adapted dental environments. I plan to bring back ideas to support wider inclusion and improved outcomes for autistic children, families and dental teams, while championing the role of occupational therapy as part of the solution to unmet oral health care needs.
Disclaimer
All Reports are copyright © the author. The moral right of the author has been asserted. The views and opinions expressed by any Fellow are those of the Fellow and not of the Churchill Fellowship or its partners, which have no responsibility or liability for any part of them.
Disclaimer
All Reports are copyright © the author. The moral right of the author has been asserted. The views and opinions expressed by any Fellow are those of the Fellow and not of the Churchill Fellowship or its partners, which have no responsibility or liability for any part of them.
