Skills
Occupational Therapy Assistant Skills & Tools
The technical skills, people skills and tools employers look for in occupational therapy assistants, and how to build and show them.
Occupational Therapy Assistants need technical skills such as therapeutic activities, adl training, and adaptive equipment, plus people skills like patience and encouragement. They also use tools such as Adaptive equipment and Therapy putty and fine motor kits.
Technical (hard) skills
- Therapeutic activities
- ADL training
- Adaptive equipment
- Fine motor activities
- Documentation
- Patient safety
People (soft) skills
- Patience
- Encouragement
- Creativity
- Communication
Tools, equipment and technology
- Adaptive equipment
- Therapy putty and fine motor kits
- Mobility aids
- Kitchen practice areas
- Splints
- Electronic records
Skills in action: common tasks
These step-by-step guides show how occupational therapy assistants put their skills to work:
How to show these skills on a resume
- Lead your skills section with the technical skills from the job posting, for example, “Therapeutic activities” and “ADL training.”
- Prove soft skills with results: instead of listing “patience,” describe a situation where you used it.
- List credentials such as COTA (NBCOT) near the top, with the issuing organization and date.
- Use the employer’s vocabulary. Our occupational therapy assistant glossary covers the terms hiring managers expect.
How to build these skills
Formal training, supervised practice and certification are the most direct routes. Our Occupational Therapy Assistant training introduces each of these skills with plain-language lessons, procedures and a final knowledge check: a strong foundation before hands-on training or your first day.