Occupational Therapist Assistant

SUMMARY
Assists students with disabilities in correcting and/or compensating for areas of self-help, functional mobility, environmental adaptations, positioning, fine/gross motor skills, oral motor skills, life skills training/vocational skills, sensory-motor processing (includes visual perception and sensory processing skills) and psycho-social skills so that their classroom performance will be enhanced.
 
ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES include the following under the direction of supervising therapist and/or district supervisor.
 
Complies with all legal and ethical guidelines of the Texas Occupational Therapy Practice Act.
 
Organizes and implements occupational therapy services and supports.
 
Provides direct, integrated, and consultative occupational therapy intervention for individual students and/or groups as per IEP.
 
Coordinates with school personnel, guardians and outside agencies regarding needs of individual students.
 
Instructs, supervises, and monitors school personnel and other implementers of the IEP in the therapeutic management of students.
 
Obtains additional or supplementary information from appropriate persons, agencies, and/or available records.
 
Compiles, maintains, and files all reports, records, and other required documents to include but not limited to inputting evaluations, daily session notes, progress reports, and maintaining documentation for Medicaid Billing, as necessary, into the KISD informational management system. 
 
Prepares and maintains a database of referrals and evaluations for each school assigned.
 
Participates in ARDC meetings as appropriate.
 
Collects, documents, and communicates pertinent information to the supervising therapist.
 
Makes recommendations for occupational therapy intervention and suggests referrals for other services as appropriate to their supervising therapist.
 
Provides on-going information for district and campus personnel regarding physical/motor disabilities, occupational therapy services, and implication for student placement.
 
Provides informal and formal professional learning for all levels of educational and support personnel.
 
Provides clinical internship opportunities for students enrolled in occupational therapist assistants’ program.
 
Integrates current professional knowledge and skill into occupational therapy services and supports.
 
Collaborates with school personnel to facilitate the participation of students in the total school program (e.g., field day adaptations).
 
Performs other duties as assigned.
 
SUPERVISORY RESPONSIBILITIES
This job has no supervisory responsibilities.
 
QUALIFICATIONS
To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily. The requirements listed below are representative of the knowledge, skill, and/or ability required.
 
EDUCATION and/or EXPERIENCE
Associates degree in Occupational Therapy.
 
CERTIFICATES, LICENSES, REGISTRATIONS
Texas Board of Occupational Therapy Examiners License as Occupational Therapist Assistant.
 
LANGUAGE SKILLS
Ability to read and interpret documents such as safety rules, operating and maintenance instructions, and procedure manuals.  Ability to write routine reports and correspondence.  Ability to speak effectively before administrators, parents, students and the general public.
 
MATHEMATICAL SKILLS
Ability to add, subtract, multiply, and divide in all units of measure, using whole numbers, common fractions, and decimals.  Ability to compute rate, ratio, and percent and to draw and interpret bar graphs.
 
REASONING ABILITY
Ability to apply common sense understanding to carry out instructions furnished in written, oral, or diagram form.  Ability to deal with problems involving several concrete variables in standardized situations.
 
PHYSICAL DEMANDS 
While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to talk or hear.  The employee frequently is required to walk and reach with hands and arms.  The employee is occasionally required to stand; sit; use hands to finger, handle, or feel; and stoop, kneel, crouch, or crawl.  The employee will occasionally lift or carry (45 pounds or more) and positioning of students with physical disabilities, controlling behavior through physical restraint, assisting non-ambulatory students, and lifting and moving adaptive equipment; may work prolonged or irregular hours.  Specific vision abilities required by this job include close vision, distance vision, and ability to adjust focus. 
 
WORK ENVIRONMENT 
While performing the duties of this job, the work environment characteristics described here are representative of those an employee encounters while performing the essential functions of this job. Frequent district-wide travel to multiple campuses as assigned.  The noise level in the work environment is usually quiet/moderate.