Occupational Therapy Glossary

Basic self-care tasks such as bathing, dressing, eating, toileting, grooming, and functional mobility.

The systematic process of breaking down an activity into its physical, cognitive, sensory, and social component demands.

Devices or tools designed to help individuals with functional limitations perform daily activities more independently.

A standardized, client-centered outcome measure in which clients identify and rate their own occupational performance issues.

An approach in which the therapist respects and responds to the client's values, priorities, and expressed needs throughout the therapeutic process.

Systematically adjusting the difficulty level of an activity to match or challenge a client's current abilities.

In MOHO, the organization of occupation into patterns through habits and internalized roles.

A specialization treating conditions of the hand, wrist, and upper extremity, practiced by OTs and PTs who may earn the CHT credential.

Complex daily tasks including meal preparation, medication management, financial management, and community mobility.

A conceptual practice model by Gary Kielhofner addressing volition, habituation, performance capacity, and environmental influence on occupation.

The National Board for Certification in Occupational Therapy, which administers the certification exam for OTs (OTR) and OTAs (COTA) in the United States.

A therapeutic approach for individuals with central nervous system dysfunction, focusing on facilitating normal movement and inhibiting abnormal tone.

Any meaningful activity in which a person engages, including self-care, work, leisure, play, and social participation.

A state in which a person is prevented from engaging in necessary or meaningful occupations due to external factors beyond their control.

The principle that all people have the right to participate in meaningful occupations, and that barriers to participation represent injustice.

A summary of a client's occupational history, daily patterns, interests, values, and needs collected during evaluation.

The AOTA document that describes the profession's domain (areas of occupation, client factors, contexts) and process (evaluation, intervention, outcomes).

Observable actions that are goal-directed, including motor skills, process skills, and social interaction skills.

A model describing occupational performance as the intersection of the person, environment, and occupation.

The ability to plan, organize, and carry out unfamiliar motor actions. Dyspraxia (difficulty with praxis) is commonly addressed in pediatric OT.

The neurological process of organizing sensory information from the body and environment for effective use; also a treatment approach developed by A. Jean Ayres.

Custom-fabricated devices that support, protect, or immobilize a body part to prevent deformity or improve function.

The therapist's planned use of personality, insights, perceptions, and judgments as part of the therapeutic process to build rapport and facilitate change.

The design of products and environments to be usable by all people to the greatest extent possible without requiring adaptation.

In MOHO, the motivation for occupation, including personal causation, values, and interests.