Nervous System and Brain Disorders

Prof. Orit Bart

Dr. Bart, PhD, is a faculty member at the Department of Occupational Therapy in the School of Health Professions. She holds a Ph.D. in health professions and performed her post-doctoral training at Haifa University. She is Chair of the Department of Occupational Therapy. Bart is a member of the International Advisory Council for Children with Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD) and of the Israeli Association of Occupational Therapy and the American Occupational Therapy Association.

Autism spectrum disorder

Children with autism experience stress in diverse life situations The most common stressprovoking situations are engagement in social interaction and exposure to tactile stimuli. Dr. Bart aims to assess brain engagement during different play settings (solitary play vs. dyadic play) and during exposure to different tactile stimuli (direct – physiology vs indirect -cognitive) in children with autism. This is a step towards a better understanding of the physiological and cognitive-emotional mechanism underlying atypical sensory responsiveness and social interaction. To overcome the challenge of assessing young children with autism, Dr. Bart uses an electro-physiological marker for sustained attention, the Brain engagement index, which is an easy-to-use, reliable, and valid tool.