PhD Student in the Department of Occupational Therapy at NYU Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development

Kavitha Murthi is pursuing her doctoral studies in the Department of Occupational Therapy at NYU Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development. She is collaborating with Counselor to the President, Dr. Kristie Patten, on a National Science Foundation (NSF) project titled “Developing Abilities and Knowledge for Careers in Design and Engineering for Students on the Autism Spectrum by Scaling Up Making Experiences.” Her research aims to investigate how interest-driven and strength-based engineering activities impact the learning and social development of autistic students. Kavitha is particularly interested in understanding how autistic adolescents interested in engineering and design engage in maker clubs to problem-solve independently using the Engineering Design Process (EDP). She is also dedicated to amplifying authentic autistic voices in her research by including her participants in the research process using a research process called Photovoice. Kavitha collaborated with her participants in different stages of the research process, namely developing socially valid research questions, data collection, and data analysis. She has also authored several peer-reviewed journal articles; most notably, she co-authored practice guidelines for occupational therapy practitioners working with autistic individuals. She also has presented at several national and international conferences.

Before beginning her doctoral studies at NYU, Kavitha obtained her post-professional graduate degree in Occupational Therapy from the United Kingdom and completed her undergraduate studies in Occupational Therapy at the Maharashtra University of Health Sciences in India. In the United Kingdom, she was inducted as a Fellow by the Higher Education Academy for her deep commitment to developing a culturally sensitive course for undergraduate occupational therapy students. She has extensive experience as a registered clinical pediatric occupational therapist in Mumbai and Edinburgh.

Kavitha has been invited to be a guest lecturer at NYU, Queen Margaret University (UK), and internationally. She is also invited to guest in several podcasts in her profession, like the OT Potential, Everyday Evidence by AOTA, and the OT Lifestyle movement. She also was interviewed to be a part of a documentary called ‘Finding Me in OT.’ The American Occupational Therapy Association has also invited her to be a reviewer on panels of award committees.

Additionally, she has contributed to various research projects, notably the Global Co-operation on Assistive Technology with the World Health Organization, for which she was nominated by the World Federation of Occupational Therapists in 2019. Kavitha is passionate about serving her professional community and has been invited as a project implementation manager in critical projects like the Occupational Therapy Narrative Database as an advisor to the American Occupational Therapy Association Evidence-Based Practice and Knowledge Translation group.

According to CDC reports, 1 in 36 children in the United States are diagnosed with autism (CDC Reports, 2023), and estimates indicate that approximately 200,000 autistic students will enter universities and the workforce in the next decade (Lubin & Brooks, 2021). Consequently, inclusive education programs are gaining increased attention to prepare the educational and vocational systems to carefully integrate these students (Bakker et al., 2019). Nevertheless, many such programs still focus on remediating these students’ deficits in communication, problem-solving, sensory needs, and behavioral differences using interventions that aim to normalize them to non-autistic levels (Kornblau & Robertson, 2020; Patten-Koenig, 2020). Challenges arise when differences in executive functioning and problem-solving mimic social and behavioral challenges and are unnoticed or unmet (Cramm et al., 2013).

Potent educational services that authentically include autistic students’ cognitive, sensory, and social differences are imperative to challenge conventionally dominant and ableist practices. To develop interventions that identify and develop these skills, the need to include autistic voices in educational research is imperative (Keating, 2021). Hence, this dissertation is developed to champion the voices of autistic middle schoolers who engage in independent problem-solving in informal educational contexts. This dissertation will attempt to shift the power dynamics toward the participants through authentic collaboration and include their perspectives at all stages in the decision-making process. By highlighting their strategies for independent problem-solving, this study will act as a starting point to develop educational interventions that value individual interests and build independent problem-solving to foster self-determination in these adolescents (Chapman, 2021).

Her dissertation will use the identity-first language “autistic individuals.” This non-ableist language describes their strengths and abilities and is a conscious decision. This language is favored by autistic communities and self-advocates and has been adopted by healthcare professionals and researchers (Bottema-Beutel et al., 2020; Kenny et al., 2016).