Find Out Why Working With an OTA/PTA Can be a Great Choice for Your Child

What is an OTA/PTA?

An Occupational Therapy Assistant/Physiotherapy Assistant is someone that works alongside the Registered Occupational Therapist and/or Physiotherapist to help implement the required treatment(s) for your child. An OTA/PTA may go through two years of a college program and will receive a diploma at the end. That being said, any member of the community can become an assistant without formal schooling. Before being able to work independently with clients they would be trained by the therapists to gain the essential knowledge needed for their role. The delegating therapist must be aware of the OTA/PTA’s scope and skills and be confident they will deliver the modalities to their standard.

What is the difference between an OTA and a PTA?

An OTA works alongside the Occupational Therapist and will generally work on things that will improve the client’s activities of daily living. This could include:

Fine motor skills like writing, doing up buttons, zippers, etc
Social Skills
Hand Strengthening and/or handwriting
Mindfulness
Sensory Processing
Executive functioning skills, etc.

A PTA works alongside the Physiotherapist and will work on improving things like:

Gross Motor Skills
Balance and coordination
Range Of motion
Constipation
Overall or specific strength
prehabilitation (before surgery) and rehab (after surgery)
DMI interventions
working on transfers, etc.

What roles do OTA/PTAs have?

When it comes to working with your child there are a few options for an assistant. Depending on your child and the therapist an OTA/PTA might be in the room with the therapist to help as an extra set of hands or to participate in the activities with your child; or, if the therapist finds it suitable, they may delegate the full session to the OTA/PTA. An assistant can implement all the therapy delegated to them, as long as the therapist and the assistant are both trained for that particular activity/modality.

The decision to work with an assistant is that of the treating therapist and the caregiver (who must consent for the assistant to help or complete the session). The treating therapist assumes ultimate responsibility for the client. This means that from an insurance perspective, the session would still be covered, since it is under the Registered Therapist’s registration number.

What does an assistant do when not working with your child?

Assistants don’t only help therapists with client work. There is so much more they do to help around the clinic. Here are a few things that assistants do at Play On Pediatric Therapy:

setting up the materials and equipment the therapist needs for the session
cleaning up after the session – this includes putting away toys, cleaning toys, cleaning the therapy room, and cleaning up the gym
ensure that the clinic is clean and organized for all clients coming in and out of the clinic
contribute to research for equipment reports
create materials, resources and handouts to be used in sessions or classes
help kiddos choose their post session stickers or Pokemon cards

What are some advantages of working with an OTA/PTA?

They LOVE to have fun, so they make the sessions engaging for kids
Sessions delegated to an assistant have a reduced fee compared to booking with the therapist
Because of lower prices your child could get more therapy sessions overall
OTA/PTA typically have a different schedule compared to the therapist, meaning more flexibility to fit to your schedule

Still have questions about what we do and if working with an assistant at Play On Pediatric Therapy is the right choice for your child? Make sure to talk to your treating therapist about it.

613-699-0787

info@playonpediatric.com