Occupational Therapy Assistants

• Summary

• Details

Work Activities

• Assemble, clean, or maintain equipment or materials for patient use.
• Work under the direction of occupational therapists to plan, implement, or administer educational, vocational, or recreational programs that restore or enhance performance in individuals with functional impairments.
• Assist educational specialists or clinical psychologists in administering situational or diagnostic tests to measure client's abilities or progress.
• Observe and record patients' progress, attitudes, and behavior and maintain this information in client records.
• Communicate and collaborate with other healthcare professionals involved with the care of a patient.
• Perform clerical duties, such as scheduling appointments, collecting data, or documenting health insurance billings.
• Demonstrate therapy techniques, such as manual or creative arts or games.
• Instruct, or assist in instructing, patients and families in home programs, basic living skills, or the care and use of adaptive equipment.
• Report to supervisors, verbally or in writing, on patients' progress, attitudes, and behavior.
• Evaluate the daily living skills or capacities of clients with physical, developmental, or mental health disabilities.
• Monitor patients' performance in therapy activities, providing encouragement.
• Assemble, clean, or maintain equipment or materials for patient use.
• Perform clerical duties, such as scheduling appointments, collecting data, or documenting health insurance billings.
• Design, fabricate, or repair assistive devices or make adaptive changes to equipment or environments.
• Alter treatment programs to obtain better results if treatment is not having the intended effect.
• Instruct, or assist in instructing, patients and families in home programs, basic living skills, or the care and use of adaptive equipment.
• Report to supervisors, verbally or in writing, on patients' progress, attitudes, and behavior.
• Monitor patients' performance in therapy activities, providing encouragement.
• Attend continuing education classes.
• Assemble, clean, or maintain equipment or materials for patient use.
• Aid patients in dressing and grooming themselves.
• Order any needed educational or treatment supplies.
• Observe and record patients' progress, attitudes, and behavior and maintain this information in client records.
• Attend care plan meetings to review patient progress and update care plans.
• Select therapy activities to fit patients' needs and capabilities.
• Teach patients how to deal constructively with their emotions.
• Observe and record patients' progress, attitudes, and behavior and maintain this information in client records.
• Maintain and promote a positive attitude toward clients and their treatment programs.
• Implement, or assist occupational therapists with implementing, treatment plans designed to help clients function independently.
• Transport patients to and from the occupational therapy work area.
• Perform clerical duties, such as scheduling appointments, collecting data, or documenting health insurance billings.

Skills

• Persuasion
  • Talking people into changing their minds or their behavior.
• Complex Problem Solving
  • Noticing a problem and figuring out the best way to solve it.
• Management of Material Resources
  • Managing equipment and materials.
• Time Management
  • Managing your time and the time of other people.
• Learning Strategies
  • Using the best training or teaching strategies for learning new things.
• Mathematics
  • Using math to solve problems.
• Technology Design
  • Making equipment and technology useful for customers.
• Equipment Selection
  • Deciding what kind of tools and equipment are needed to do a job.
• Installation
  • Installing equipment, machines, wiring, or computer programs.
• Programming
  • Writing computer programs.
• Operations Monitoring
  • Watching gauges, dials, or display screens to make sure a machine is working.
• Operation and Control
  • Using equipment or systems.
• Judgment and Decision Making
  • Thinking about the pros and cons of different options and picking the best one.
• Reading Comprehension
  • Reading work-related information.
• Active Learning
  • Figuring out how to use new ideas or things.
• Negotiation
  • Bringing people together to solve differences.
• Management of Personnel Resources
  • Selecting and managing the best workers for a job.
• Equipment Maintenance
  • Planning and doing the basic maintenance on equipment.
• Troubleshooting
  • Figuring out what is causing equipment, machines, wiring, or computer programs to not work.
• Quality Control Analysis
  • Testing how well a product or service works.
• Monitoring
  • Keeping track of how well people and/or groups are doing in order to make improvements.
• Instructing
  • Teaching people how to do something.
• Social Perceptiveness
  • Understanding people's reactions.
• Systems Evaluation
  • Measuring how well a system is working and how to improve it.
• Systems Analysis
  • Figuring out how a system should work and how changes in the future will affect it.
• Management of Financial Resources
  • Making spending decisions and keeping track of what is spent.
• Science
  • Using scientific rules and strategies to solve problems.
• Active Listening
  • Listening to others, not interrupting, and asking good questions.
• Service Orientation
  • Looking for ways to help people.
• Operations Analysis
  • Figuring out what a product or service needs to be able to do.
• Repairing
  • Repairing machines or systems using the right tools.
• Critical Thinking
  • Thinking about the pros and cons of different ways to solve a problem.
• Writing
  • Writing things for co-workers or customers.
• Speaking
  • Talking to others.
• Coordination
  • Changing what is done based on other people's actions.

Abilities

• Written Comprehension
  • Reading and understanding what is written.
• Peripheral Vision
  • Seeing something to your side when your are looking ahead.
• Written Expression
  • Communicating by writing.
• Manual Dexterity
  • Holding or moving items with your hands.
• Finger Dexterity
  • Putting together small parts with your fingers.
• Glare Sensitivity
  • Seeing something even if there is a glare or very bright light.
• Visual Color Discrimination
  • Noticing the difference between colors, including shades and brightness.
• Multilimb Coordination
  • Using your arms and/or legs together while sitting, standing, or lying down.
• Static Strength
  • Lifting, pushing, pulling, or carrying.
• Explosive Strength
  • Jumping, sprinting, or throwing something.
• Gross Body Equilibrium
  • Keeping your balance or staying upright.
• Information Ordering
  • Ordering or arranging things.
• Oral Comprehension
  • Listening and understanding what people say.
• Deductive Reasoning
  • Using rules to solve problems.
• Fluency of Ideas
  • Coming up with lots of ideas.
• Originality
  • Creating new and original ideas.
• Spatial Orientation
  • Knowing where things are around you.
• Speed of Closure
  • Quickly knowing what you are looking at.
• Dynamic Flexibility
  • Quickly and repeatedly bending, stretching, twisting, or reaching out with your body, arms, and/or legs.
• Near Vision
  • Seeing details up close.
• Dynamic Strength
  • Exercising for a long time without your muscles getting tired.
• Stamina
  • Exercising for a long time without getting out of breath.
• Mathematical Reasoning
  • Choosing the right type of math to solve a problem.
• Perceptual Speed
  • Quickly comparing groups of letters, numbers, pictures, or other things.
• Problem Sensitivity
  • Noticing when problems happen.
• Night Vision
  • Seeing at night or under low light.
• Memorization
  • Remembering words, numbers, pictures, or steps.
• Time Sharing
  • Doing two or more things at the same time.
• Category Flexibility
  • Grouping things in different ways.
• Depth Perception
  • Deciding which thing is closer or farther away from you, or deciding how far away it is from you.
• Auditory Attention
  • Paying attention to one sound while there are other distracting sounds.
• Far Vision
  • Seeing details that are far away.
• Speech Clarity
  • Speaking clearly.
• Gross Body Coordination
  • Moving your arms, legs, and mid-section together while your whole body is moving.
• Extent Flexibility
  • Bending, stretching, twisting, or reaching with your body, arms, and/or legs.
• Response Orientation
  • Quickly deciding if you should move your hand, foot, or other body part.
• Rate Control
  • Changing when and how fast you move based on how something else is moving.
• Reaction Time
  • Quickly moving your hand, finger, or foot based on a sound, light, picture or other command.
• Wrist-Finger Speed
  • Making fast, simple, repeated movements of your fingers, hands, and wrists.
• Speed of Limb Movement
  • Quickly moving your arms and legs.
• Trunk Strength
  • Using your lower back and stomach.
• Oral Expression
  • Communicating by speaking.
• Inductive Reasoning
  • Making general rules or coming up with answers from lots of detailed information.
• Visualization
  • Imagining how something will look after it is moved around or changed.
• Flexibility of Closure
  • Seeing hidden patterns.
• Number Facility
  • Adding, subtracting, multiplying, or dividing.
• Selective Attention
  • Paying attention to something without being distracted.
• Hearing Sensitivity
  • Telling the difference between sounds.
• Speech Recognition
  • Recognizing spoken words.
• Arm-Hand Steadiness
  • Keeping your arm or hand steady.
• Control Precision
  • Quickly changing the controls of a machine, car, truck or boat.
• Sound Localization
  • Noticing the direction that a sound came from.

Knowledge

• Computers and Electronics
  • Knowledge of circuit boards, processors, chips, electronic equipment, and computer hardware and software, including applications and programming.
• Law and Government
  • Knowledge of laws, legal codes, court procedures, precedents, government regulations, executive orders, agency rules, and the democratic political process.
• Geography
  • Knowledge of principles and methods for describing the features of land, sea, and air masses, including their physical characteristics, locations, interrelationships, and distribution of plant, animal, and human life.
• Administrative
  • Knowledge of administrative and office procedures and systems such as word processing, managing files and records, stenography and transcription, designing forms, and workplace terminology.
• Personnel and Human Resources
  • Knowledge of principles and procedures for personnel recruitment, selection, training, compensation and benefits, labor relations and negotiation, and personnel information systems.
• Food Production
  • Knowledge of techniques and equipment for planting, growing, and harvesting food products (both plant and animal) for consumption, including storage/handling techniques.
• Administration and Management
  • Knowledge of business and management principles involved in strategic planning, resource allocation, human resources modeling, leadership technique, production methods, and coordination of people and resources.
• Customer and Personal Service
  • Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.
• Production and Processing
  • Knowledge of raw materials, production processes, quality control, costs, and other techniques for maximizing the effective manufacture and distribution of goods.
• Engineering and Technology
  • Knowledge of the practical application of engineering science and technology. This includes applying principles, techniques, procedures, and equipment to the design and production of various goods and services.
• Design
  • Knowledge of design techniques, tools, and principles involved in production of precision technical plans, blueprints, drawings, and models.
• Chemistry
  • Knowledge of the chemical composition, structure, and properties of substances and of the chemical processes and transformations that they undergo. This includes uses of chemicals and their interactions, danger signs, production techniques, and disposal methods.
• Biology
  • Knowledge of plant and animal organisms, their tissues, cells, functions, interdependencies, and interactions with each other and the environment.
• Psychology
  • Knowledge of human behavior and performance; individual differences in ability, personality, and interests; learning and motivation; psychological research methods; and the assessment and treatment of behavioral and affective disorders.
• Sociology and Anthropology
  • Knowledge of group behavior and dynamics, societal trends and influences, human migrations, ethnicity, cultures, and their history and origins.
• Medicine and Dentistry
  • Knowledge of the information and techniques needed to diagnose and treat human injuries, diseases, and deformities. This includes symptoms, treatment alternatives, drug properties and interactions, and preventive health-care measures.
• Fine Arts
  • Knowledge of the theory and techniques required to compose, produce, and perform works of music, dance, visual arts, drama, and sculpture.
• History and Archeology
  • Knowledge of historical events and their causes, indicators, and effects on civilizations and cultures.
• Therapy and Counseling
  • Knowledge of principles, methods, and procedures for diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation of physical and mental dysfunctions, and for career counseling and guidance.
• Foreign Language
  • Knowledge of the structure and content of a foreign (non-English) language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition and grammar, and pronunciation.
• Philosophy and Theology
  • Knowledge of different philosophical systems and religions. This includes their basic principles, values, ethics, ways of thinking, customs, practices, and their impact on human culture.
• Public Safety and Security
  • Knowledge of relevant equipment, policies, procedures, and strategies to promote effective local, state, or national security operations for the protection of people, data, property, and institutions.
• Telecommunications
  • Knowledge of transmission, broadcasting, switching, control, and operation of telecommunications systems.
• Communications and Media
  • Knowledge of media production, communication, and dissemination techniques and methods. This includes alternative ways to inform and entertain via written, oral, and visual media.
• Transportation
  • Knowledge of principles and methods for moving people or goods by air, rail, sea, or road, including the relative costs and benefits.
• Education and Training
  • Knowledge of principles and methods for curriculum and training design, teaching and instruction for individuals and groups, and the measurement of training effects.
• English Language
  • Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, and rules of composition and grammar.
• Building and Construction
  • Knowledge of materials, methods, and the tools involved in the construction or repair of houses, buildings, or other structures such as highways and roads.
• Mechanical
  • Knowledge of machines and tools, including their designs, uses, repair, and maintenance.
• Mathematics
  • Knowledge of arithmetic, algebra, geometry, calculus, statistics, and their applications.
• Physics
  • Knowledge and prediction of physical principles, laws, their interrelationships, and applications to understanding fluid, material, and atmospheric dynamics, and mechanical, electrical, atomic and sub-atomic structures and processes.
• Economics and Accounting
  • Knowledge of economic and accounting principles and practices, the financial markets, banking, and the analysis and reporting of financial data.
• Sales and Marketing
  • Knowledge of principles and methods for showing, promoting, and selling products or services. This includes marketing strategy and tactics, product demonstration, sales techniques, and sales control systems.

Education

Education

Associate's degree

Work Experience

No work experience

Training

No on-the-job training

Education and Training Opportunities

×

Education and Training Opportunities

• Bates Technical College
  1101 S Yakima Ave, Tacoma WA 98405
  School Type

  Public, 4-year or above

  Admissions
  School Size

  1,000 - 4,999

  Financial Aid 253-680-7000
  Other Degrees Offered

  Undergraduate degree or certificate offering,No graduate offering
  Website

  https://www.batestech.edu/
  Program Name
  Occupational Therapist Assistant
  Length
  2 years
  Award Level
  Associate's degree
  Save

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• Green River College
  12401 SE 320th St, Auburn WA 98092-3622
  School Type

  Public, 4-year or above

  Admissions
  School Size

  5,000 - 9,999

  Financial Aid 253-833-9111
  Other Degrees Offered

  Undergraduate degree or certificate offering,No graduate offering
  Website

  https://www.greenriver.edu/
  Program Name
  Occupational Therapist Assistant
  Length
  2 years
  Award Level
  Associate's degree
  Save

  ---

• Lake Washington Institute of Technology
  11605 132nd Ave NE, Kirkland WA 98034-8506
  School Type

  Public, 4-year or above

  Admissions
  School Size

  1,000 - 4,999

  Financial Aid 425-739-8100
  Other Degrees Offered

  Undergraduate degree or certificate offering,No graduate offering
  Website

  https://www.lwtech.edu/
  Program Name
  Occupational Therapist Assistant
  Length
  2 years
  Award Level
  Associate's degree
  Save

  ---

• Pima Medical Institute-Renton
  555 South Renton Village Place Suite 110, Renton WA 98057
  School Type

  Private for-profit, 2-year

  Admissions
  School Size

  Under 1,000

  Financial Aid 425-228-9600
  Other Degrees Offered

  Undergraduate degree or certificate offering,No graduate offering
  Website

  https://pmi.edu/
  Program Name
  Occupational Therapist Assistant
  Length
  2 years
  Award Level
  Associate's degree
  Save

  ---

• Spokane Falls Community College
  3410 W Whistalks Way, Spokane WA 99224-5288
  School Type

  Public, 4-year or above

  Admissions
  School Size

  1,000 - 4,999

  Financial Aid 509-533-3500
  Other Degrees Offered

  Undergraduate degree or certificate offering,No graduate offering
  Website

  https://sfcc.spokane.edu/
  Program Name
  Occupational Therapist Assistant
  Length
  2 years
  Award Level
  Associate's degree
  Save

  ---

Close

Pay

Washington Annual Salary

76010/yr

Washington Hourly Wage

36.54/hr

Washington Employment Trends

Currently Employed

1,050

Yearly Projected Openings

180

Personality

Social: People interested in this work like activities that include helping people, teaching, and talking. They do well at jobs that need:

• Optimism
• Empathy
• Social Orientation
• Cooperation
• Integrity
• Attention to Detail

Tools

• Adaptive communication switches for the physically challenged
• Arm orthopedic softgoods
• Awls
• Back or lumbar or sacral orthopedic softgoods
• Balance beams or boards or bolsters or rockers for rehabilitation or therapy
• Bead accessories
• Bench vises
• Blood pressure cuff kits
• Braille devices for the physically challenged
• C clamps
• Canes
• Clay or modeling tools
• Clinical hydraulic lifts
• Clothes dryers
• Commercial use dishwashers
• Commercial use microwave ovens
• Commercial use ovens
• Continuous passive motion CPM devices
• Crochet hooks
• Crutches
• Desktop computers
• Dynamometers
• Foundry molds
• Full body immersion hydrotherapy baths or tanks
• Gait belts for rehabilitation or therapy
• Game pads or joy sticks
• Glue guns
• Goggles
• Goniometers or arthrometers
• Hammers
• Hand sewing needles
• Headpointers or mouthsticks for the physically challenged
• Heat guns
• Keyboards
• Kilns for firing ceramics
• Lacing or stringing accessories
• Laser fax machine
• Laundry type washing machines
• Leather accessories
• Leg orthopedic softgoods
• Letter or symbol boards for the physically challenged
• Macrame accessories
• Mallets
• Mats or platforms for rehabilitation or therapy
• Medical acoustic stethoscopes
• Medical staff isolation or cover gowns
• Needlenose pliers
• Notebook computers
• Orthotics or foot care products
• Page turners for the physically challenged
• Patient shifting boards
• Patient stretchers
• Personal computers
• Photocopiers
• Positioning devices
• Power drills
• Power sanders
• Protective gloves
• Punches or nail sets or drifts
• Rasps
• Reflex hammers or mallets
• Rivet tools
• Saws
• Screwdrivers
• Sewing needles
• Shears
• Slip or groove joint pliers
• Squares
• Surgical isolation or surgical masks
• T squares
• Tablet computers
• Therapeutic heating or cooling pads or compresses or packs
• Touch pads
• Triangles
• Utility knives
• Vascular or compression apparel or support
• Vascular sequential compression devices or tubing
• Voice synthesizers for the physically challenged
• Walkers or rollators
• Weaving accessories
• Wheelchairs
• Wire cutters
• Wood burning tools
• Wood chisels
• Writing aids for the physically challenged

Technology

• Accounting software
• Action games
• Calendar and scheduling software
• Computer based training software
• Data base user interface and query software
• Device drivers or system software
• Electronic mail software
• Graphics or photo imaging software
• Internet browser software
• Medical software
• Office suite software
• Operating system software
• Optical character reader OCR or scanning software
• Presentation software
• Spreadsheet software
• Voice recognition software
• Web page creation and editing software
• Word processing software