Glossary
Occupational Therapist Terms & Vocabulary
15 essential occupational therapist terms with plain-English definitions: the vocabulary you’ll hear in training and on day one.
Key occupational therapist vocabulary
These 15 terms come up constantly in occupational therapist training, on the job and in interviews. Knowing them helps you follow instructions, document accurately and sound prepared.
- Adaptive equipment
- Tools that make tasks easier.
- ADLs
- Activities of daily living.
- Cognitive rehab
- Therapy for thinking skills.
- COTA
- Certified OT assistant.
- Energy conservation
- Techniques to reduce fatigue.
- Ergonomics
- Fitting tasks to people.
- Fine motor skills
- Small hand movements.
- Functional goal
- A goal tied to daily life.
- Home modification
- Changes for safety.
- IADLs
- Instrumental activities like cooking.
- IEP
- Individualized Education Program.
- Occupation
- Any meaningful activity.
- OTR/L
- Registered, licensed OT.
- Sensory integration
- Processing sensory input.
- Splint
- A device supporting a body part.
Practice these terms
Test yourself with the free Occupational Therapist practice test: it includes vocabulary questions built from this list. For a complete course, see Occupational Therapist training.
Browse terms from every career in our career glossary.