Occupational Therapy Assistant Associate of Applied Science

Brown Mackie College — Tucson

The Occupational Therapy Assistant associate’s degree program at Brown Mackie College – Tucson in Arizona provides the student with the knowledge, skills, practice, and professionalism necessary to obtain an entry-level position as an occupational therapy assistant.

This program will prepare the graduate for the National Board for Certification in Occupational Therapy (NBCOT) Certification Examination for Occupational Therapy Assistants. The basic sequencing of occupational therapy courses, which combine classroom lecture, laboratory, and clinical experiences, is supplemented with general education to enhance the student’s versatility and effectiveness in the occupational therapy profession.

Occupational therapy assistants administer therapy treatments – under the supervision of occupational therapists – to individuals who have lost functional abilities because of an illness, injury, or disease. They help clients with rehabilitative activities and exercises outlined in a treatment plan. Assistants might monitor a person’s activities to make sure they are performed correctly and to give encouragement. They also might assist in recordkeeping and billing.

The Occupational Therapy Assistant degree program offers you courses on:
• The human body as a whole, including structure of the body, cells, tissues, organ systems, the mechanism of disease, and the senses.
• Kinetics and kinematics with an emphasis on the assessment procedures that an occupational therapy assistant must carry out to monitor a patient’s progress. Each area of the body is examined to determine relevant functional activities.
• Diseases and disorders of the physical system. Emphasis is placed on treatment of occupational performance components and areas with functional documentation of progress and outcomes.

The occupational therapy assistant program has applied for accreditation by the Accreditation Council for Occupational Therapy Education (ACOTE) of the American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA), located at 4720 Montgomery Lane, P.O. Box 31220, Bethesda, MD 20824-1220. ACOTE’s telephone number c/o AOTA is (301) 652-AOTA.