The Oprah Winfrey Controversy

OPRAH WINFREY AND SENSORY PROCESSING DISORDER

While searching for a controversy in occupational therapy for this week's special blog post, I came across Oprah Winfrey which made me curious. What does Oprah have to do with occupational therapy? Well, it turns out that the whole controversy stems from an episode of the Oprah Show where she talked about a challenged boy with sensory processing disorder (SPD) who's mother explained had both hypersensitivity and hyposensativity. She also explained that her son found it pleasurable and funny when other children were hurt and in pain. What angered advocates of SPD about this was how Oprah may have led others watching the show to believe that all children with this disorder were violent and behaved in the same way. They say that SPD affects different children in different ways which were not shown on the Oprah Show such as movement, social skills, school performance, and many other functions. They also disapproved of how Oprah never explained how SPD could be treated. They understand that the main focus of the show was more about the struggles of the young boy's life, but would like to see SPD more clearly and specifically explained and represented.

WORKS CITED 

Orenchak, Meghan. "The Oprah Winfrey and Sensory Processing Disorder Controversy." North Shore Pediatric Therapy. 8 March 2011. Web. 13 March 2013.