For Faculty

Dear OTA Educators,

For over 20 years educators have chosen TherapyEd to help their students prepare for and succeed on the NBCOT®‘s COTA® Exam. Program and student success are interdependent, and both are measured by the yardstick of the exam. The better students are prepared, the better they perform on the exam, and the better the students from a school do, the better the school’s evaluations and passing rates are. This inter-relationship between the success of students and the evaluation of a school has guided TherapyEd from the beginning as we have developed tools and resources to help students prepare for and pass the certification exam. 

TherapyEd’s Path to Success gives educational programs a proven way to better prepare students for the exam. That is why year after year more than 99% of the students who take our course say they would recommend it to others.

The Path to Success offers a comprehensive set of tools to help students succeed, including:

  • The OTA Exam Prep course,
  • TherapyEd’s National OTA Certification Exam Review and Study Guide,
  • FREE Online Office Hours offered live with a TherapyEd Instructor,
  • Personal one-on-one tutoring,
  • Small group tutoring,
  • New OTA online assessment exams with assessment data to help schools and students succeed.

To support educators in their own teaching we also offer a yearly webinar, led by Dr Kari Inda, on “The Art and Science of Item Writing for High Stake Exams.” With our extensive resources, exceptional instructors and years of proven success, we’re the company with the knowledge, experience, and expertise to prepare students to pass the COTA® Exam with confidence.

Our Instructors

At the heart of TherapyEd’s efforts to help students pass their exam are the Instructors and Authors who teach the course and develop our teaching materials. Our instructors are experienced leaders in the profession and include Program Directors, Fieldwork Coordinators, Researchers, and Practitioners. Seven of our Instructors have been honored as Fellows of the AOTA, and all are dedicated to helping students succeed on the exam. Our instructors include:

  • Rita P. Fleming-Castaldy Ph.D., OTL, FAOTA
  • Susan Robertson Ph.D., OTR/L, FAOTA
  • Kari C. Inda Ph.D., OTR, CEAS
  • Donna M. Costa DHS, OTR/L, FAOTA
  • Marlene J. Morgan Ed.D, OTR/L
  • Yvonne Randall, EdD, OTR/L, FAOTA
  • Ingrid Provident Ed.D, OTR/L, FAOTA
  • Cathy Dolhi OTD, OTR/L, FAOTA
  • Colleen Maher OTD, OTR/L, CHT
  • Thomas Fisher, PhD, OTR, CCM, FAOTA
  • Regina M. Lehman M.S., OT/L
  • Jeanine Stancanelli OTD, MPH, OTR/L
  • Paula Carey OTD,OTR/L
  • Toni Thompson DrOT, OTR/L, C/NDT
  • Heather Panczykowski D.H. Sc., OTR/L
  • Amy E. Bryant, M.Ed., OTR/L

TherapyEd’s Path to Success

TherapyEd’s Path to Success gives students and programs targeted tools to focus study time, identify strengths and weaknesses, improve content comprehension, develop test-taking strategies, and ensure exam success.

TherapyEd’s OTA Exam Prep Class creates a social learning atmosphere that is individual, responsive, immediate, and dynamic. Our expert instructors motivate students to prepare for the exam and provide the appropriate tools and resources to implement a successful study plan.

  • Create an efficient and effective study plan,
  • Learn how to analyze challenging practice questions,
  • Assess individual strengths and weaknesses,
  • Demonstrate improved critical reasoning and confidence on the NBCOT exam,
  • Course Manual offering targeted content review, additional practice questions, study tips, test taking strategies, and self-assessment guides.

TherapyEd’s National OTA Review & Study Guide by Rita P. Fleming-Castaldy

The TherapyEd National OTA Certification Exam Review & Study Guide is the most respected, comprehensive, and up-to-date guide available.

  • #1 best-selling Exam Prep book for the exam,
  • Completely updated for the current exam blueprint,
  • Includes 3 complete practice exams with multiple choice and the new six-option multi-select items,
  • Detailed rationales for all answers, including critical reasoning rationales,
  • Detailed Score Reports to identify problem areas and guide studying.

Free Online Office Hours: Moderated every week by an experienced TherapyEd instructor, our Online Office Hours give students a way to extend their studying and get extra help. Every Tuesday students log-in, ask questions, and get personalized help while also learning from other students’ questions. The sessions include a short, focused content review of an important exam topic followed by discussion of test-taking strategies and an open question and answer session.

Personal one-on-one tutoring: For students interested in more personalized learning than our courses can offer, TherapyEd offers live, individual, one-on-one online tutoring with TherapyEd instructors. (See above for instructors.) Designed for students who may be struggling with their preparation or are unsure of their study plan, TherapyEd’s personal tutoring gives exam candidates the chance to work individually with an instructor with demonstrated expertise in helping students pass the NBCOT®‘s COTA® exam.

Small group sessions are also possible for students with related challenges and needs which combine small group work and individual sessions.

TherapyEd’s NEW OTA Online Assessment Exams: Designed to determine student readiness to take the certification exam, the OTA Assessment exams measure student knowledge by content area, domain of knowledge, and critical reasoning skill. It is mapped to the current NBCOT® domains to help program directors identify how students perform by domain and if there are any weak areas needing to be addressed ahead of sitting for the actual exam. The exam covers a broad range of OT practice settings and diagnoses, including screening, evaluation, intervention planning, intervention management, and discharge. Program directors can use this information on student cohort performance to inform their curriculum and determine if enhancements may be helpful to better prepare students for the certification exam.