Certified Occupational Therapist Assistant (COTA)

Title:   Certified Occupational Therapist Assistant (COTA)
Position Purpose

Under the supervision of the Executive Director with clinical supervision provided by the Occupational Therapist. The Certified Occupational Therapy Assistant is responsible for providing direct and indirect services to students with identified special education needs. The areas of occupation based needs of students in the educational setting that are addressed include but are not limited to: play, self feeding/eating, activities of daily living, handwriting/writing skills, recreation/leisure and vocation. Underlying performance areas include: Fine and gross motor development, oral motor function, physical needs/skills, and sensory integration/sensory processing.

Essential Functions

• Provides services under the direction of a licensed occupational therapist.
• Assists in obtaining appropriate information for student evaluation.
• Supports student programs by providing direct intervention in the child’s home, in the general or special education classroom or within an appropriate setting in the educational setting where the tasks are typically performed.
• Instructs other educational team members (paraprofessional/personal care assistance, parent, nurse, teacher) in the specific strategies or methods to carry out in the general education setting or home
• Monitors activities to ensure they are performed correctly.
• Documents student contacts within the Occupational Therapy progress notes and maintains the assigned students occupational therapy records.
• Completes appropriate medical billing for those students meet the criteria.
• Maintains safe, secure, and healthy work environment by establishing, following, and enforcing standards and procedures and complying with legal regulations.
• Keeps supplies ready by inventorying stock, placing orders, and verifying receipt.
• Keeps equipment operating by following operating instructions, troubleshooting breakdowns, maintaining supplies, performing preventive maintenance, and calling for repairs.
• Serves and protects the occupational therapy practice by adhering to professional standards, policies and procedures, federal, state, and local requirements.
• Enhances occupational therapy practice reputation by accepting ownership for accomplishing new and different requests and exploring opportunities to add value to job accomplishments. 

Occupational Therapy Assistant Qualifications / Skills:

• Documentation skills
• Scheduling
• Verbal communication
• Teamwork
• Dependability
• Health promotion and maintenance 

Additional Duties

• Performs other related tasks as assigned by the Executive Director of Special Education.

Travel Requirements

• Travels to school district buildings and professional meetings as required.

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities

• Knowledge and use of occupational therapy theories, models of practice, principles, and evidence-based practice to guide intervention decisions.
• Knowledge of human development throughout the life span and integrates with student’s unique developmental status.
• Knowledge of the influence of disabilities, socio-cultural and socioeconomic factors on student’s ability to participate in occupations.
• Knowledge of federal and state laws and regulations regarding education and students and occupational therapy practice in schools.
• Effective verbal and written communication skills.
• Skill in selecting and providing a wide range of intervention strategies and monitoring their effectiveness.
• Effective computer skills as needed for work.
• Ability to determine the need for an occupational therapy evaluation and to select and administer appropriate assessment tools to evaluate the student.
• Ability to organize and coordinate work.
• Ability to engage in self-evaluation with regard to performance and professional growth.
• Ability to establish and maintain cooperative working relationships with others contacted in the course of work.

Physical and Mental Demands, Work Hazards

• Works in standard office and school building environments.

Qualifications Profile
Education/Certification:

Completion of an A.A.S. Degree program in Occupational Therapy. Licensing through the state ofMinnesota and certification through the National Board of Certification in Occupational Therapy.MN driver’s license or evidence of equivalent mobility. 

Experience:

• Successful prior experience working as a Certified Occupational Therapist Assistant, preferably in an educational or other pediatric practice setting.

Pay based on contract
1.0 FTE, 183 days per contract.
Benefit Eligible Positions: Health, Dental, Vision, Life, Supplemental, Vacation, etc.