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TherapyEd’s Personal Tutoring
TherapyEd’s Personal Tutoring provides the opportunity for individualized learning for students who want a more one-on-one experience. Instructors help assess strengths and weaknesses and work to design customized study plans to address areas of need. From content review to test-taking strategies and stress management, tutoring helps students succeed on the exam by providing expertise, encouragement, and experience.
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OTA Tutors
Paula Carey OTD,OTR/L

Dr. Paula D. Carey, OTD, OTR/L has been an instructor for TherapyEd for over 18 years and has been an occupational therapy educator for over 30 years at Utica College. She served as the weekend coordinator and as the program director for occupational therapy at Utica College, but has now retired from full-time teaching. She earned her Post-Professional Doctorate in Occupational Therapy from Chatham University, Master of Science in Adult Education from Syracuse University, Bachelor of Science in Occupational Therapy from Utica College, and Associate degree in Occupational Therapy Assistant from Herkimer College. She is invested in facilitating exam candidates’ successful preparation for the occupational therapy and the occupational therapy assistant certification examinations. Her primary research interests relate to occupational therapy education and productive aging in the areas of driving and stress management and coping.
Donna M. Costa DHS, OTR/L, FAOTA

Dr. Costa is an Instructor for TherapyEd and formerly an Associate Professor and Program Director at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Donna was also formerly the Chair of the Occupational Therapy Program at Stony Brook University in New York and also served on the faculty of the University of Utah. She earned a doctorate from the University of Indianapolis in Occupational Therapy, as well as a Master’s degree in Health Care Administration from the New School of Social Research in NY, and dual baccalaureate degrees in Occupational Therapy and Psychology from the University of Buffalo. Dr. Costa is a Fellow of the American Occupational Therapy Association and has served on the AOTA’s Board of Directors. She is the author of three books on fieldwork education published by AOTA Press, as well as numerous articles which have appeared in OT Practice. Donna serves on the editorial review boards of the American Journal of Occupational Therapy and Occupational Therapy in Health Care.
Toni Thompson DrOT, OTR/L, C/NDT

Dr. Thompson received her undergraduate degree in Occupational Therapy at the University of Illinois and earned her DrOT from Nova Southeastern University. She also earned a Master’s degree in Business Administration and Management from Webster University in St. Louis. Dr. Thompson was formerly a Team Leader of Occupational Therapy and Speech Pathology at the Shriners Hospital for Children of Tampa, FL and her work experience includes service with the Peace Corps in Ecuador and Venezuela. She has significant experience in SI and NDT-Pediatrics, and has written numerous articles for a variety of Occupational Therapy and Orthopedic publications. Her areas of concentration include health care programs for Hispanic populations and the role of occupational therapy in human trafficking. She has been an instructor for TherapyEd for over 20 years and has provided individual tutoring to students as well. In 1995 she received the Award of Excellence from the Florida Occupational Therapy Association.
Testimonials
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“We did it! We passed. Dr. Toni Thompson and I were an excellent team. I was just about to give up when a friend told me to go to TherapyEd. There were several people involved in me passing but it was Dr. Thompson who finally was a perfect fit. Her focus was on me the student and she wasn’t ironing or cooking while she was tutoring me. She taught me how to clinically reason. What helped the most was we took the most challenging questions I got wrong and while I understood the rationale, we went through the question to really analyze it further. Through those discussions other weaknesses were brought up and we discussed those weaknesses. Its very difficult for a person to go back to a center after failing an exam even if it is due to a few points. Since I associated the center with a very negative experience, Dr. Thompson suggested I go past the testing center again, bring a friend and get some lattes and sweets, and after talking to a few people at the center it became a less negative experience. During my 1 1/2 process I envisioned a hero. For me the hero was Rocky. The day of the test I wore my Rocky tee shirt and a Rocky sweatshirt. I sat in my car for 30 minutes and listened to his fight songs and other motivational tapes. I took several Rocky quotes with me such as “Going in one more round when you don’t think you can. That’s what makes all the difference in your life.” Also, “You, me, or nobody is going to hit as hard as life. But it ain’t about how hard you hit. It’s about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward, how much you can take and keep moving forward. That’s how winning is done.”
I was with one company before and I lost thousands with promises and passing guarantees. The tutor used Quizlet questions and old NBCOT questions. TherapyEd was the one company that did not insist on selling me on spending money on packages. They did not threaten to take me out of the classes if I did not buy packages and if I did not take their tutoring classes. Only TherapyEd and one other company I used did not pressure me to buy packages. Nor did they take advantage of a person who was just simply trying to join a field they loved and was interested in since age 18. They also let me take the class twice. Which by the way is excellent. If I had only gone to TherapyEd from the beginning I could have saved myself a ton of money and heartache.
Thank you TherapyEd for being an ethical and professional company. I highly recommend Toni Thompson as a tutor and I will be a return customer when I go for my OTR boards.”– Debra Alessio, COTA® -
“Hello, my name is Heather Smith and I wanted to email you to share my success story with TherapyEd. The first three times of taking my exam and failing all three with the score of 437, I used the purple book, Pass the OT, and AOTA PDFs and none of those materials helped me to pass. I was very intimidated by the TherapyEd book but knew for certain that I would have to study it to achieve my goal. I re-took the TherapyEd course with Toni Thompson and then spent 2-3 sessions with her tutoring me one-on-one. She told me this: “It is better to prepare for a 10K and show up to find out it is a 5K than to prepare for a 5K and show up to find out it is a 10K.” That was the example she gave about TherapyEd and it stuck with me. She told me to study questions and use a highlighter to highlight important key words and use the strike out method. She told me I knew what I was doing and I knew the material and to just practice questions. So that is what I did. I went through every exam in the back of the TherapyEd book and every Rationale. I took my exam on May 3, 2019 and found out that I was Heather Lynn Smith, COTA/L on May 8, 2019. My score increased 40 points following Toni Thompson’s advice and studying questions and rationales in the back of the TherapyEd book. Toni is a jewel and a great asset to TherapyEd and I know that you all are very proud to have her as I feel very blessed to have had her as a tutor. I hope this testimonial will help someone else who is struggling to pass this exam.”– Heather Smith, COTA/L, Kershaw Health
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“I would like to take this opportunity to thank TherapyEd for providing me with an amazing tutoring experience with Paula. I failed my first exam by 5 points and felt completely defeated–I thought I was never going to pass the exam and almost gave up. I then reached out to TherapyEd for guidance as I had used the book while preparing for the exam. The woman on the phone was so helpful and put me in touch with Michele Emery who hooked me up with the most amazing tutor!!!! Aside from teaching me strategies in how to break down a question and chose the best answer she also gave me confidence and was my ‘therapist’. At times I felt down and honestly quite depressed on how difficult this was for me but Paula pushed me and I really have to say I don’t think I could’ve done this without her!!!! She rooted for me until the very end! Additionally, she was extremely flexible with meeting times and responded to emails and texts promptly! She made herself always accessible to me even if it was just to chat on the phone and to lift my spirits. I feel that many people don’t know about the tutoring that TherapyEd offers and for many this can be all they need in order to be successful on the exam. I want to thank you again for providing this service and for providing the best tutor!”– S.W. – New York Institute of Technology