Table of contents
- Are There Really Different Types of Occupational Therapists?
- Main Occupational Therapy Specialisations
- 1. Paediatric Occupational Therapists
- 2. School-Based Occupational Therapists
- 3. Physical Rehabilitation Occupational Therapists
- 4. Hand Therapy Occupational Therapists
- 5. Geriatric Occupational Therapists
- 6. Mental Health Occupational Therapists
- 7. Driving and Community Mobility Occupational Therapists
- 8. Feeding, Eating, and Swallowing Occupational Therapists
- 9. Low Vision Occupational Therapists
- Other Common OT Practice Areas
- How to Know Which Type of OT You Need
Occupational therapy helps people do the everyday activities they need or want to do. When illness, injury, disability, or aging makes life difficult, an OT steps in. They look at what a person is struggling with, what matters most to them, and what changes can help them live more safely and independently.
For many people, daily tasks can feel simple and automatic. These may include showering, dressing, cooking, getting out of bed, or moving around the home. However, for someone living with disability, injury, illness, dementia, chronic pain, or age-related changes, these tasks can become difficult. They may also feel unsafe, tiring, or overwhelming
For example, an older person living with dementia may forget steps in their showering routine. They may also be at higher risk of falls. An OT can assess what is making the task difficult. They may then recommend practical supports, such as safer routines, assistive equipment, home modifications, carer strategies, or environmental changes.
The word “occupation” in occupational therapy does not only mean paid work. It also refers to the everyday tasks, routines, and roles that make up a person’s life. This can include personal care, cooking, studying, working, playing, socialising, driving, caring for others, and moving safely around the home and community.
If you are new to occupational therapy and want a more detailed explanation, you can read our guide here:
Are There Really Different Types of Occupational Therapists?
Although all occupational therapists share the same core training, the different types of OT often focus on particular settings or client populations. All occupational therapists are trained in occupational therapy and share the same core goal: helping people participate in daily life as safely and independently as possible.
The difference is usually their area of practice. An OT may develop specialised knowledge based on the people they support. They may also specialise in certain work settings or daily-life challenges. For example, a paediatric OT may focus on child development and family routines. A physical rehabilitation OT may support adults recovering from stroke, surgery, injury, or illness.
This is why it is important to understand an OT’s area of experience before choosing a provider. The right OT will depend on the person’s age, condition, goals, environment, and the type of daily-life challenges they need support with.
Main Occupational Therapy Specialisations
1. Paediatric Occupational Therapists
Paediatric occupational therapists work with babies, children, teenagers, and their families. Their role is to support children to participate in age-appropriate daily activities. These may include play, learning, dressing, toileting, eating, handwriting, emotional regulation, and social interaction.
A paediatric OT may support children living with developmental delays, autism, ADHD, or sensory processing differences. They may also work with children who have motor coordination difficulties, disability, injury, or challenges with independence. Therapy may include play-based activities, fine motor skill development, sensory strategies, parent coaching, and self-care training. It may also include recommendations for the home, school, or community environment.
They often work in clinics, homes, hospitals, early intervention services, community settings, and schools. What makes this area different is its strong focus on child development, play, family routines, and helping children build the skills they need for everyday life.
2. School-Based Occupational Therapists
School-based occupational therapists help students participate in their education. Their work is usually linked to a student’s ability to access learning, manage classroom routines, and participate in the school environment.
They may support handwriting, keyboarding, attention, self-regulation, transitions, toileting at school, seating, sensory needs, playground access, or assistive technology. They often work closely with teachers, parents, learning support staff, and other allied health professionals.
The key difference is the setting and purpose. A school-based OT focuses on helping students participate in the school day, rather than providing broader therapy across all areas of home and community life.
3. Physical Rehabilitation Occupational Therapists
Physical rehabilitation OTs support people recovering from illness, injury, surgery, neurological conditions, or physical disability. This may include people recovering from stroke, brain injury, spinal cord injury, fractures, joint replacement, amputation, chronic illness, or major surgery.
Their work often focuses on activities of daily living such as showering, dressing, toileting, cooking, transfers, mobility around the home, upper limb function, fatigue management, and returning to meaningful activities. They may also recommend equipment, home modifications, therapy programmes, or compensatory strategies.
They commonly work in hospitals, rehabilitation centres, outpatient clinics, community rehabilitation services, and home-based therapy. What makes physical rehabilitation OT different is its focus on restoring, adapting, or compensating for physical and functional changes after a health event.
4. Hand Therapy Occupational Therapists
Hand therapy occupational therapists focus on the hand, wrist, elbow, and upper limb. They may support people with fractures, tendon injuries, nerve injuries, arthritis, burns, or carpal tunnel syndrome. They may also assist with sports injuries, workplace injuries, or post-surgical rehabilitation needs.
Their interventions may include splinting, scar management, swelling management, strengthening, and range of motion exercises. They may also provide sensory retraining, fine motor retraining, and planning for return to work, hobbies, or daily activities.
This is a highly specialised area. The hand and upper limb are essential for almost every daily task. These tasks may include dressing, cooking, writing, driving, working, and using technology. Hand therapists often work closely with surgeons, GPs, employers, and rehabilitation teams.
5. Geriatric Occupational Therapists
Geriatric occupational therapists, A.K.A aged care occupational therapists. They work with older adults to support safety, independence, comfort, and quality of life. They may assist people experiencing falls, frailty, dementia, arthritis, reduced mobility, vision changes, fatigue, or difficulty managing daily routines.
Their work may include falls prevention, home safety assessments, equipment prescription, showering and toileting strategies, dementia support, carer education, seating, pressure care, energy conservation, and ageing-in-place recommendations.
They often work in homes, hospitals, residential aged care facilities, community health services, rehabilitation centres, and home care programmes. This area differs from other types of occupational therapy because it focuses on the functional impact of ageing and helping older adults remain as safe and independent as possible.
6. Mental Health Occupational Therapists
Mental health occupational therapists support people whose daily functioning is affected by mental health conditions, trauma, psychosocial disability, stress, anxiety, depression, or changes in motivation, habits, routines, and participation.
They may help with daily structure, coping strategies, emotional regulation, sleep routines, social participation, life skills, self-care, sensory strategies, community access, study, work, and meaningful activity engagement. They may also facilitate groups, support recovery planning, or help people rebuild confidence in everyday life.
Mental health OTs may work in hospitals, community mental health services, clinics, schools, homes, rehabilitation programmes, and disability support settings. Their focus is not only on symptoms, but on how mental health affects a person’s ability to live, connect, participate, and manage daily life.
7. Driving and Community Mobility Occupational Therapists
Driving and community mobility OTs help people move safely and confidently in the community. This may include driving assessments, return-to-driving planning, vehicle modifications, mobility scooter use, public transport training, pedestrian safety, or planning alternative transport options.
They may support older adults, people recovering from injury, people with neurological conditions, people with disability, or individuals whose medical condition may affect driving safety.
This type of OT is different because the focus is not only on movement, but on access to the community. Driving, transport, and community mobility are closely linked to independence, identity, work, appointments, shopping, social connection, and participation.
8. Feeding, Eating, and Swallowing Occupational Therapists
Feeding, eating, and swallowing OTs help people participate safely and comfortably in mealtimes. They work with babies, children, adults, and older people experiencing:
- Feeding difficulties and sensory concerns
- Dysphagia (swallowing difficulties)
- Developmental or neurological conditions
- Disabilities or post-illness changes
To make mealtimes easier, these OTs adjust things like body positioning, the physical environment, and sensory strategies. They introduce adaptive utensils, support food exploration, and teach self-feeding skills. Crucially, they also provide caregiver education and collaborate closely with the medical team, speech pathologists, dietitians, and families.
This area differs from general OT because it focuses specifically on eating, drinking, swallowing, and mealtime participation. The goal isn’t just safety and nutrition. It’s about helping people fully participate in one of life’s most meaningful daily routines.
9. Low Vision Occupational Therapists
Low vision occupational therapists support people whose vision loss affects daily activities. This may include people with age-related vision loss, neurological vision changes, eye conditions, or disability-related visual impairment.
They may assist with lighting, contrast, home organisation, reading strategies, kitchen safety, medication management, mobility around the home, falls prevention, labels, magnifiers, adaptive technology, and task modification.
Low vision OT is different because the focus is not on treating the eye condition itself. Instead, the OT helps the person use their remaining vision, other senses, environmental changes, and practical strategies to complete everyday tasks more safely and independently.
Other Common OT Practice Areas
There are also many other types of occupational therapy practice. Some OTs focus on home modifications, assistive technology, neurological rehabilitation, workplace injury, ergonomics, chronic pain, oncology, palliative care, community access, disability support, or NDIS-related functional assessments.
Home modification OTs assess the person, their daily routines, and their physical environment. They may recommend changes such as grab rails, ramps, bathroom modifications, safer access paths, or changes to support transfers and mobility.
Assistive technology OTs help people choose, trial, and use equipment that supports independence and safety. This may include shower chairs, over-toilet aids, wheelchairs, pressure cushions, beds, recliner chairs, dressing aids, kitchen equipment, communication tools, or smart home technology.
These areas are especially important in community-based occupational therapy because the OT can assess the person in the real environment where daily challenges happen.
How to Know Which Type of OT You Need
The right type of occupational therapist depends on the person’s age, condition, environment, and daily-life challenges. For example, a child who has difficulty with dressing, play, handwriting, or sensory regulation may benefit from a paediatric or school-based OT. An adult recovering from a stroke, surgery, or injury may need a physical rehabilitation OT, while someone with a hand injury may benefit from a hand therapist.
Other people may need support with falls prevention, home modifications, assistive technology, mental health, driving, community access, low vision, or feeding challenges. In many cases, a person may benefit from more than one area of occupational therapy. For example, an older adult recovering from a stroke may need rehabilitation, home safety recommendations, assistive equipment, and community mobility support.
Written & researched by: Daniel Castrucci (Founder/ Lead Occupational Therapist at Cas Health)
Edited & Uploaded by: Edward Ervin Barbon (Cas Health Support)
Reference:
https://wfot.org/about/about-occupational-therapy
https://www.aota.org/career/advanced-certification-program
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