Glossary
Occupational Therapy Assistant Terms & Vocabulary
15 essential occupational therapy assistant terms with plain-English definitions: the vocabulary you’ll hear in training and on day one.
Key occupational therapy assistant vocabulary
These 15 terms come up constantly in occupational therapy assistant training, on the job and in interviews. Knowing them helps you follow instructions, document accurately and sound prepared.
- Adaptive equipment
- Tools that ease tasks.
- ADLs
- Daily living activities.
- COTA
- Certified OT assistant.
- Energy conservation
- Reducing fatigue.
- Fieldwork
- Clinical training.
- Fine motor
- Small hand movements.
- Functional goal
- Daily-life goal.
- Home program
- Exercises at home.
- Plan of care
- OT treatment plan.
- Progress note
- Documentation.
- Reacher
- Grabbing tool.
- Sensory activity
- Activities for sensory needs.
- Splint
- Support device.
- Supervision
- Required OT oversight.
- Transfer
- Moving between surfaces.
Practice these terms
Test yourself with the free Occupational Therapy Assistant practice test: it includes vocabulary questions built from this list. For a complete course, see Occupational Therapy Assistant training.
Browse terms from every career in our career glossary.