Amy Coopersmith, a Town of Montgomery resident and occupational therapist, was honored last Saturday, March 30 during the 2024 Let’s Talk Women’s History Month Ceremony, hosted at Delancey’s in Goshen. She and three other local women were celebrated for their contributions in their careers and to their communities.

This annual ceremony was hosted by Shirly Sutphin, CEO of Let’s Talk, her life coach business, who orchestrated the event and highlighted the efforts of these extraordinary honorees. This year’s ceremony theme focused on women who advocate for equity, diversity, and inclusion.

“When we inspire others to understand and value women’s inclusion, we forge a better world. And when women themselves are inspired to be included, there’s a sense of belonging, relevance, and karma,” Sutphin said. “I’ve been doing this for a long time, finding grassroots women that are doing phenomenal things in our community.”

The four honorees included Thelma Bove, a doctor originally from the Philippines and vice president of the Filipino American Association of Northern New York; Dawn Ansbro, executive director of SUNY Orange; Yaa Yaa Williams, owner of Sadie’s Books and Beverages, the first black-owned bookstore in Orange County; and Coopersmith, founder of Self-Determined Kids.

Coopersmith grew up in Oceanside, Long Island and lived in East Northport before moving to the Town of Montgomery in late 2022. She studied political science at Hunter College, then graduated from Adelphi University and Mercy College with Masters’ degrees in Physical Education and Occupational Therapy respectively, and recently graduated from Temple University with a Doctorate in Occupational Therapy. Coopersmith originally worked in public affairs for several years before switching to health education, and she found her true calling for occupational therapy while attending Adelphi.

“I worked for a number of years in public affairs in New York City, but found that it wasn’t a good fit for me. I didn’t like promoting things that were self-serving to people who had agendas that weren’t aligned with mine,” she explained. “So I left that field, and that’s when I pursued becoming a teacher.”

“While I was pursuing that, I found the field of occupational therapy and didn’t know what it was. As I studied health and physical education, I learned about it and though that was a really perfect fit for my personality,” she continued.

Coopersmith entered the industry as a clinical therapist, then became a clinical evaluator, helping young students in Queens dealing with cognitive, sensory, and mental challenges. Between 2003 and 2020, she served as an occupational therapy supervisor for the NYC Department of Education, where she oversaw over 100 school practioners in Queens and provided support for particularly difficult cases. When helping children and students, Coopersmith’s biggest advocacy is self-determination: the ability for an individual to perform daily routines, make decisions, and create goals without help from others.

“There’s a study that I read in 2013 and it was conducted by Vanderbuilt University and the Tennessee Education Department,” she said. “What it showed was that all administrators in the study rated self-determination as a very high priority for children who had challenges at school. All rated up there: 70, 80, 90%.”

“And yet, almost all of the administrators said that only 20 to 30% of educators were actually using these approaches. You have high priority, and yet very few are actually doing it,” she continued. “So I said ‘How can we make this doable?’”

Coopersmith retired from her supervisor position in 2020 after experiencing a heart attack and realizing that the commute to the city was stressful. After the COVID pandemic hindered her retirement plans, she attended Temple University and conducted extensively research on self-determination, looking for strategies that parents and teacher could use to help their children learn about autonomy.

“I wanted to make it easier for educators and practitioners to still incorporate these ideas into their daily sessions with children, because I worked in the schools,” she said. In 2020, Coopersmith started Self-Determined Kids, a program that provides various resources through podcasts, strategy guides, workshops, and more. The following year, she started Captain Me, a 12-episode video series aimed towards younger viewers in which she and Cappy the Puppet promote autonomy through colorful visuals and lively musicals. Coopersmith has received positive feedback for both programs from numerous educators across New York, who reported increases in their classrooms’ participation and enthusiasm.

During Saturday’s ceremony, Coopersmith thanked Sutphin and the attendants for honoring her for this year’s ceremony and discussed her work and research in occupational therapy. She recounted a day that completely changed her life: While working with a special education classroom in New York City, she found out that her students were not permitted to participate in their school’s stage productions.

“They were third graders and just full of life and energy as they walked in. We did our usual routine, which was I asked them to lead a warm up exercise,” she said. “I watched them, they looked like professional dancers, they should have been on television. So I just blurted out ‘You are doing a fantastic job! You should be on stage!’”

“At that moment, a little eight-year-old lady raised her hand and said ‘Mrs. C, we’re not allowed to be on the stage for special education,” she continued while holding back tears. “When she said that, it was like I had been kicked in the gut.”

After Coopersmith spoke with the school’s new principal, all special education students were given the opportunity to give a lead performance in the school’s annual concert. She used this story as an example of the ceremony’s theme of inclusivity and asserted that everyone can make a difference, whether big or small, to include others that may feel left out. She concluded her speech by passing out keychain flashlights to the attendants, symbolizing children’s self-determination.

“Take your light and lift it up right now; I call this the self-determination of life. This is meant as a reminder to ourselves to make children’s preferences a top priority,” she said while holding her light. “You want to turn the light on as a reminder that children’s ideas matter, they’re important, and that understanding makes all the difference in the world for them today and in the future.”