After continually making the Top 10 career list throughout the nation, Occupational Therapy (OT) is a growing profession, according to Tiffany Kawaguchi, program director for Kapiʻolani Community College’s Occupational Therapy Assistant (OTA) program.
“It (OT) is one that makes it possible for people to achieve independence and to enjoy life to its fullest,” she said.
Those who graduate from KapCC’s OTA program (established in 1973) are trained to help improve the lives of people of all ages, including newborns with developmental delays, and elderly people who strive to age safely and independently in their own homes.
KapCC’s program is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Occupational Therapy Education (ACOTE) of the American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA), according to the KapCC OTA program website.
Students will graduate from the OTA program with an Associates of Science in Occupational Therapy Assisting and a Certificate of Competence in Activity Aide.
After receiving the AS degree in OTA, graduates will take a certification examination through the National Board of Certification for Occupational Therapy (NBCOT): a four hour exam, with 200 questions reflecting on current OT standards of competent practice.
The OT and OTA professions offer a variety of employment opportunities including facilitating prosocial behaviors in the community in consumers who have mental illnesses, teaching adults who have experience neurological diseases,and disorders that affect their daily activities. Employment also expands to engaging children in childhood to play with their peers, learning in inclusive classroom settings. The job can also include assisting and evaluating people who have various impairments for eligibility with adapted public transportation services.
The list doesn’t stop there. The OTA career choice allows for students to continue on to become an OT. Students would then be required to get a masters, and even a OTD or doctorate if they desire.
“Typically, the master’s (degree) takes two years,” Kawaguchi said.
If students want to go only as far as an OTA, they will require supervision of an OT in certain situations, according to Kawaguchi.
Depending on the state, the amount of schooling an OT major may determine how much an OT gets paid, whether he or she gets a doctorate or masters. But Kawaguchi informed that a masters is good too.
In KapCC’s OTA program, students learn the basics from the foundations of the profession, interpersonal skills and “therapeutic use of self,” introduction to splinting, to professional advocacy, community awareness and group facilitation for clients with psychosocial illnesses, substance abuse histories, and/or cognitive impairments.
If students are interested in a career in healthcare, or becoming an OTA, they must qualify for math and English 100, attend information sessions that are offered monthly, and submit an application for the OTA program within the specified time frame. The program is “first-qualified, first-accepted” according to Kawaguchi.