Associate in Applied Science in Occupational Therapy Assistant

Green River College

Occupational therapy is a health discipline that provides services to people whose lives have been disrupted by physical injury, illness, and developmental, psychosocial, or aging-related problems. ''Occupational'' in this sense does not necessarily refer to a person’s employment. Instead, it means therapy that enables a person to gain the function necessary to perform day-to-day work, self-care and leisure activities as related to one’s roles. Occupational therapy assistants are often part of a health team that not only includes an occupational therapist but may also include physicians, nurses, social workers, teachers, physical therapists and other specialists. Besides preparing to become occupational therapy assistants, students in this program learn many skills that will serve in other helping careers.

Occupational therapy assistants are employed at public schools, long-term care centers, hospitals, rehabilitation centers and geriatric day centers to name a few. Assistants work under the supervision and consultation of an occupational therapist to provide patient treatments. They also provide assistance with patient assessments.

The associate-degree-level occupational therapy assistant program is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Occupational Therapy Education (ACOTE) of the American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA), located at 6116 Executive Boulevard, Suite 200, North Bethesda, MD 20852-4929 ACOTE’s phone number c/o AOTA is (301) 652-AOTA and its Web address is www.acoteonline.org. Graduates of the program will be eligible to sit for the national certification examination for occupational therapy assistants administered by the National Board for Certification in Occupational Therapy (NBCOT). After successful completion of this examination, the graduate will be a Certified Occupational Therapy Assistant (COTA). In addition, all states require licensure in order to practice however, state licenses are usually based on the result of the NBCOT Certification Examination. Note that a felony conviction may affect a graduate’s ability to sit for the NBCOT certification examination or attain state licensure.

Green River College