Analysis of my Rhetorical Situation

Figuring out my rhetorical situation is not easy. There are a lot of possibilities to who my audience might be. However, this was helpful because now I have a more clear cut view of what exactly I want my QRG to do and look like.

For my topic, I can assume that the people reading my article will be familiar with what occupational therapy is. Also, if they are reading about the lack of support for children in schools that they either have children or are occupational therapists themselves. Or possibly a parent researching the availability of therapists in schools for their own child People that are reading my QRG probably also read other scientific or health related magazines or articles. This means they are probably familiar with the health field in general. I think it is safe to assume that people reading about the medical field are probably highly educated. These people will probably value other's well being and want to find more ways to help other people. In addition, if these people are reading about helping children, they are probably rather compassionate and caring.


I decided to make my topic more specific. I went back to last week's research and decided to focus on the article about a boy named Henry who got lost in the public school system due to his Asperger's syndrome. I want my project to educate my audience on the lack of not only occupational therapists in schools, but just resources in general. I want my audience t know everything there is to know about this problem. I want to make them feel like this is a problem and that something should be done. I want to highlight the fact that 1) there isn't enough therapeutic support in schools, and 2) that there are children that need it. That being said, the context is also very important and I will be sure to inform my audience about the setting surrounding my issue.

As the author, I can bring a new perspective to this because I have seen occupational therapy work when I shadowed at Phoenix Children's Hospital. I got the opportunity to see how these therapists work with children and what kinds of devices they get to use to assist their patients. Because I have seen this first hand, I can really show my audience how occupational therapists work with their patients on a day to day basis. I am incredibly interested in this field, and I hope that it will show.