Certified Occupational Therapy Assistant (COTA)

Position Type:
Special Education/ Occupational Therapist

Date Posted:
5/7/2025

Location:
Various Dakota County locations

Date Available:
08/19/2025

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Date Posted : May 7, 2025

Position Title : Certified Occupational Therapy Assistant (COTA)

Assignment Location : Multiple Locations through out the Dakota County Area in Intermediate School District 917

Hours per Day : 8 hours

Schedule : Monday - Friday, 5 days a week

Contract Length: 12 months

Salary: $29.00 - 32.00 / hour

Anticipated Start Date : August 19, 2025

Position Overview:

Certified Occupational Therapy Assistants are responsible for providing direct and indirect occupational therapy services for students under supervision of an Occupational Therapist. This position will be researching and planning interventions for students in accordance with IEP (Individualized Education Plan) goals; assisting in performing developmental and related assessments; maintaining work records; reporting on student progress; assisting in determining IEP goals; making equipment recommendations; providing modifications to facilitate student participation in activities.

Responsibilities:

• Under the direction of an Occupational Therapist, implements therapeutic activities, programs and treatments; assists the Occupational Therapist and staff in adapting school and classroom materials for facilitating student access; and provides direct occupational therapy services to students in compliance with established practices and procedures

• Conducts evaluation or screenings of students under the guidance of the Occupational Therapists; and documents services rendered such as daily treatment notes, progress reports, and summary reports

• Coordinates the development of intervention plans with the Occupational Therapist, classroom staff, and other related service providers; assists with the implementation of behavioral and academic intervention plans in accordance with IEP goals; and discusses student progress and concerns

• Communicates and responds to inquiries from families, teachers, and other staff; provides instructional information to students, staff, and families

• Recommends, researches, and obtains specialized equipment; and maintains equipment

• Performs other duties of a similar nature or level ?

Knowledge Requirements:

• Occupational therapy principles, practices, ethics, and, safety requirements;

• Applicable principles and practices needed to support students with special needs;

• Understanding of special needs students and the cultural awareness needed to support those students;

• Evaluation, screening, and assessment of special needs student;

• Assistive learning tools and technologies;

• Teaching and instructions principles and methods;

• Customer service principles;

• Recordkeeping principles;

• Applicable local, state, and federal laws, rules, and regulations;

• Computers and related software applications
  

Skills and Abilities:

• Providing occupational therapy intervention;

• Evaluating, screening, and assessing of special needs children;

• Using assistive learning tools and technologies;

• Preparing and maintaining records and reports;

• Providing customer service;

• Applying local, state, and federal laws, rules, and regulations;

• Operating a computer and related software applications;

• Communication, interpersonal skills as applied to interaction with subordinates, coworkers, supervisor, the general public,

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Education and Experience: Associate degree (A.S., A.A.) or two year technical certificate in Occupational Therapy. Typically requires a Occupational Therapy Assistant license

Physical Requirements:

• This work requires the occasional exertion of up to 10 pounds of force;

• work regularly requires sitting, speaking or hearing, using hands to finger, handle or feel and repetitive motions,

• frequently requires reaching with hands and arms and occasionally requires standing, walking, stooping, kneeling, crouching or crawling, pushing or pulling and lifting;

• work has standard vision requirements;

• vocal communication is required for expressing or exchanging ideas by means of the spoken word and conveying detailed or important instructions to others accurately, loudly or quickly;

• hearing is required to perceive information at normal spoken word levels and to receive detailed information through oral communications and/or to make fine distinctions in sound;

• work requires preparing and analyzing written or computer data, operating machines and observing general surroundings and activities;

• work occasionally requires exposure to bloodborne pathogens and may be required to wear specialized personal protective equipment and exposure to bodily fluids;

• work has no exposure to environmental conditions; work is generally in a moderately noisy location (e.g. business office, light traffic)

DISTRICT PROFILE :

Intermediate School District 917 serves the low incidence needs of students receiving special education services from our member school districts in the southeastern metropolitan area. Students are referred to us by member school districts. Our programs and services include comprehensive options and efficient special education services that expand on what member districts may be able to offer students in their own schools. Programs provide special education and related service support to students from early childhood through age 21 in a variety of different, specialized settings for students with emotional/behavioral disorders, autism spectrum disorders, developmental and cognitive disabilities, mental health needs, those who are deaf and hard of hearing, and learning disabilities.

In our highly-structured and specialized educational environments, you will encounter:

• Classrooms of 4-8 students supported by a teacher and 3-6 trained paraprofessionals.
• Behavior support teams, including board certified behavior analysts.
• Lead teachers to support due process and curriculum development.
• Collaborative teams, which can include: audiologists, interveners, interpreters, teachers, paraprofessionals, developmental adaptive physical education teachers, occupational therapists, physical therapists, school psychologists, school nurses, health associates, school social workers, and speech language pathologists.
• Functional spaces, which can include: individualized work spaces for each student, group instruction areas, sensory spaces, break spaces, playground/gym/area for gross motor movement, and safety features for staff and students.

District 917 also provides students from member districts a secondary education program, including Dakota County Area Learning Schools, which provide alternative learning programming both in-person and online to students in need of a positive, safe, and structured learning environment outside their resident high school, and Dakota County Secondary Technical Center, which provides technical education for high school students in 10 th , 11 th , and 12 th grade.

Application Procedure : Can be completed at

District 917s Website :
Intermediate School District 917 is an equal opportunity employer