Occupational Therapy Assistant School: Inside Healthcare’s “MacGyver” Career

If you find yourself thinking your talent for creative thinking doesn’t have a place in the real-life work world, you should hear about the “MacGyver” of healthcare careers – the Occupational Therapy Assistant (OTA). Those who’ve completed occupational therapy assistant school say it’s the ability to use and adapt exercises, techniques, and methods that make this career as fulfilling to them as it is helpful to those they serve.

Your Creativity: A Tremendous Fit for Occupational Therapy Assistant School

Regardless of what you might have thought an occupational therapy assistant degree involves, chances are “being creative” didn’t come to mind. The more you think about it, however, the more it makes sense.

Occupational therapy is about finding ways for people struggling with emotional, developmental, cognitive, and sensory issues to lead the life they want. Every issue these individuals have deserves a specialized, highly personalized solution to achieve their life goals. Now that’s a career for the MacGyver person in you!

OTA = an Occupational Therapy Assistant Degree

Unlike physical therapy assistants and aides, OTAs take a whole-person approach to improved health and wellness. OTAs work directly with individuals to achieve the goals they want to achieve. You’re just as likely to be assisting a grade-schooler to learn coping strategies for sudden, loud noises, as showing a senior adult recovering from hip surgery how to regain strength and mobility from home.

Those with an occupational therapy assistant degree are keen observers and natural encouragers, so by getting to know the people they serve, out-of-the-box thinking opens the door to new or inventive ways of doing things.

Fact is, OTAs often talk about the concept of having a toolbox mentality – developing and acquiring an ever-expanding array of methods and tools to achieve individualized therapy goals. (Here’s an example of a website showcasing ideas for the OTA professional community!)

Here’s What “OTA Creativity” Looks Like

The occupational therapy plan used depends on the ability of the individual and the life goals they have in mind. An occupational therapy assistant school – especially one that gets you involved in a wide range of fieldwork experiences – will build your confidence as an OT practitioner and leverage your creativity to achieve results.

Some examples of how OTAs combine knowledge and creativity:

• For a school-age child with cerebral palsy, a word processor with word prediction capability increases writing legibility. A special cut-out desk has forearm supports to allow for more comfortable use of a keyboard. The OTA introduces highlighters for marking selections on multiple-choice tests. Reading is enhanced by bringing in a tablet computer with access to digital books and a text-to-speech feature.
• For an adult with limited arm mobility or muscle strength, a clamping pants hanger can hook on a cupboard handle; the clamps for pants cuffs can hold open a cookbook or recipe. To make sipping a drink easier, a straw is attached to a clothespin, then anchored to the side of a cup.
• For kids struggling with fine motor control, a home-made activity board with various sizes and types of dials, switches, and buttons makes for a play activity with a purpose.

The 2-Year OTA Degree at CUKC

Cleveland University-Kansas City (CUKC) is a nonprofit, private, healthcare-focused university in Overland Park, Kansas. CUKC offers a two-year applied science degree known as an Associate of Applied Science (A.A.S.) in Occupational Therapy Assistant.

This degree begins with at least 24 hours of general education coursework before admission to the primary OTA coursework. (More degree details are here.) Class and lab time for the occupational therapy assistant degree is combined with a four-to-five-month fieldwork experience that often includes various workplace settings, from schools to rehab centers, to senior care facilities. The degree can be completed in as little as two years.

As you work toward your occupational therapy assistant degree, you will take general courses in communications and psychology, as well as learn about performance analysis, rehabilitation and disability issues, and therapeutic interventions. The CUKC program prepares you for the National Board for Certification in Occupational Therapy (NBCOT) Certification Examination to become a Certified Occupational Therapy Assistant (COTA).

Request information to learn about the 2-year OTA degree, or download the free CUKC eBook today: Your Complete Guide to an Occupational Therapy Assistant Career.