Julianna Copeland
Julianna is a highly skilled occupational therapist with over a decade of experience working with children and young adults. She specializes in pediatric care, focusing on developmental disabilities, autism spectrum disorder, cerebral palsy, Down syndrome, traumatic brain injuries, various sensory processing needs & learning disabilities. Her expertise spans a broad age range, from birth to 21 years old, and she is particularly confident in supporting early childhood development. Julianna combines clinical knowledge with a passion for teaching, having led classes and served as a guest speaker on child development topics for students and aspiring therapists. In addition to her clinical work, Julianna holds certifications in American Sign Language for infants, toddlers & preschoolers and is certified in teaching alpine skiing for children 2.5 years thru adulthood. She has extensive experience in a variety of settings, including schools, home health, community programs, and non-traditional environments of swimming pools, rock-climbing, nordic & alpine skiing as a few of the outdoor adventure programs she has supported individuals with special needs to access these activities. Through these diverse experiences, Julianna has honed her ability to support children’s physical, cognitive, and social growth, while helping them engage fully in everyday activities. Julianna earned her Bachelor of Science in Occupational Therapy from Colorado State University, where she also participated in advanced anatomy projects that deepened her understanding of the human anatomy with specialty on the human skeleton. Her dedication to helping others is rooted in her lifelong fascination with human development and her personal experiences with rehabilitation after a sports injury in her youth that lead to her further exploring the therapeutic rehabilitation as a career. Looking forward, she aims to integrate technology into her practice to enhance accessibility and independence for her clients, continuing her mission of empowering individuals to reach their full potential through the access of developing assistive technology for school age individuals through adulthood, with a particular interest in assistive technology for access to recreational activities.
• Colorado State University
• OT
• ASL
• Outdoor Adventure Program - Alpine Skiing
• NSCD
• OTAC
• OTAA
• Special Needs Swim Program, Fort Collins, CO
• National Sports Center for Disabled, Winter Park, CO
• Habitat for Humanity
• Center for Therapeutic Horseback Riding, Longmont, CO
Areas of Specialization/Expertise
- Autism
- Cerebral Palsy
- TBI
- Pediatric stroke
- Developmental Disabilities
- Learning Disabilities
- Sensory Processing Needs
What do you enjoy most about practicing medicine?
It warms my heart & fills me with joy to watch my clients make progress & succeed with their growing interest & engagement in functional activities that expand their knowledge, purpose, & functional skills as they mature. When their faces smile with great joy & full of expression bring such peace to my heart & I am fulfilled with purpose to continue serving & supporting each client to my best ability. I believe we must meet clients where they're at with our activities offered, make them playful and irresistable to captivate their visual attention to task & work to continue with repetition to build their visual focus to these functional tasks being offered. For some students, our activities and tasks may need to be presented more of a playful presentation to initially build their interest. With theraapeutic mileu, it's our expertise as OTs to scaffold the challenge while keeping the client's interest in these new fun, playful & functional tasks to ultimately make progress toward our client's individually designed meaningful goals.