The Occupational Therapy Assistant Program Faculty, Staff and Students look forward to exciting and creative growth in 2019/2020 with expanded applied learning service collaborations; college wide and community based collaborations; development of an off cycle weekend/distance learning OTA program on the Newburgh Campus and increased professional development and continuing education offerings in partnership with the New York State Occupational Therapy Association.
A significant component of the OTA Program is the emphasis on applied learning through ‘community connections service-learning' projects. The purpose of the community-connections projects is to provide each student with an opportunity to apply didactic learning in developing specially designed programs for community agencies/facilities as non-traditional and/or emerging areas of practice in OT. Students begin researching community agencies in the 1st and 2nd semesters and then develop and initiate specific goals, programs, adapted equipment, etc. during the clinical reasoning skills course in the 3rd semester. This essential component of our program incorporates collaborations with college programs and services, e.g., Office for Accessibility Services, Lab School, BRIDGES, PTA Architecture and Engineering. We look forward to inter departmental collaborations and projects.
Based on our review of our interim self study and the newly initiated educational standard changes regarding our program, we will be revising our curriculum to meet the new standards. In light of these new standards, we will need to add a skills practice lab to our OTA program. With this additional course we will be eliminating the English 160 Technical Writing course.
The SUNY Orange Center for Assistive and Rehab Technology (CART), a sister program housed within the OTA Department, offers a wealth of resources, assessments, and adaptive equipment demonstrations for students within the college community as well as community members across the developmental lifespan. A DASNY grant, sponsored by Assembly Member Aileen Gunther was awarded in the past to the SUNY Orange CART to develop a state-of-the-art technology demonstration and equipment lending library, which we continue to expand on.
The potential expansion of the OTA Program, as a weekend/evening/hybrid, is now in its final stages, with a goal of spring 2020 to accept the first class. We are excited at the prospect of offering an alternative academic experience leading to a highly sought A.A.S. degree and career as an Occupational Therapy Assistant.
In conclusion, we are additionally excited that an OTA Dept. Adjunct Faculty member, Richard Watt, OTR/L, ATP, continues to explore the development of a Certificate Program in Assistive Technology.
All of the aforementioned contribute not only to our excitement as a Department team, but to the overall contribution to the College's Mission, Vision and Strategic Plan to serve our students and community in diverse and essential areas.