Department of Rehabilitation Science
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Occupational Therapy BS/MS

Curriculum

The BS/MS program is a five year, entry-level professional program. During the first two years of the program, students receive a liberal arts education in their pre-professional studies and take prerequisite courses for the Occupational Therapy program. The professional program, structured to prepare them for personal and professional development, is flexible enough to meet the needs and interests of individual students while still insuring that upon graduation they will be competent to enter the profession. In order to maintain high professional competency standards, students may repeat any academic or clinical courses only once, pending approval of the Occupational Therapy Program Academic Performance Committee.

The professional sequence of the program begins in the summer immediately preceding the third year. The ten-week summer program includes ANA407 Gross Human Anatomy (6 credit hours) that meets daily for eight weeks, and OT 351 OT Practice Skills I (2 credit hours) that continues for ten days following ANA407.

Three additional academic semesters at the undergraduate level provide learning experiences structured to integrate theory and practice. During the second semester of the fourth year, students progress to the MS component of the program. At this time, students register for six months of full-time supervised fieldwork experience.

Students choose fieldwork sites by a lottery system and in consultation with the fieldwork director. Additional fieldwork experiences in such specialized areas of practice as developmental disabilities, substance abuse, and ergonomics are available as electives. The department maintains clinical affiliation agreements with more than 150 health-care facilities throughout the United States for student placement. Students should expect to leave the Western New York area to fulfill this requirement.

Upon completion of fieldwork, students return to the campus for the fifth year of the program. Students must successfully complete fieldwork prior to the start of the fifth year. The student is awarded the combined BS/MS degree in Occupational Therapy upon completion of all program and university requirements. Students who do not progress to the MS component of the program will be awarded a BS in Occupational Science after the successful completion of the 129 credits in the BS portion of the program. Only students who are awarded the combined BS/MS are eligible to take the national certification examination administered by the NBCOT, the National Board for Certification in Occupational Therapy, 12 South Summit Avenue, Suite 100, Gaithersburg, MD 20877-4150; Telephone (301) 990-7979; Fax (301) 869-8492, Website: http://www.nbcot.org. After successful completion of this exam, the individual will be an Occupational Therapist, Registered. Most states require licensure in order to practice; however, state licenses are usually based on the results of the NBCOT Certification Examination. A felony conviction may affect a graduate's ability to sit for the NBCOT certification examination or attain state licensure.

The following is a representative example of both the undergraduate and graduate courses needed for a BS/MS degree in Occupatinal Therapy:

Year 1: Fall (14 credits)

  • ANA 113 / OT 113 Human Anatomy
  • ENG 101 Writing Skills
  • PSY 101 Introduction to Psychology
  • UBE 101 University Experience
  • UGC 111 World Civilization I

Year 1: Spring (16 credits)

  • ENG 201 Writing Skills
  • General Education Arts Requirement
  • General Education Math Requirement
  • OT 230 Therapeutic Interaction
  • PSY 322 Abnormal Psychology
  • UGC 112 World Civilization II

Year 2: Fall (15 credits)

Year 2: Spring (14 credits)

  • PHI 101 Introduction to Philosophy
  • UGC 211 American Pluralism or SOC 211 Sociology of Diversity
  • PGY 300 Human Physiology
  • STA 119 Statistical Methods

START OF THE PROFESSIONAL COMPONENT OF THE PROGRAM

Year 3: Summer (8 credits)

Year 3: Fall (18 credits)

Year 3: Spring (16 credits)

Year 4: Summer (9 credits)

Year 4: Fall (19 credits)

Year 4: Spring (18 credits)

Year 5: Fall (14 credits)

Year 5: Spring (12 credits)

Advanced Clinical Seminars (3 credit hours) : Students Must Take at Least One

Electives: (3 credit hours) Students Choose Courses from among the Following:

Time to Completion:

In order to earn a combined BS in Occupational Science / MS in Occupational Therapy degree, students must complete all requirements of the professional component of the program, including fieldwork and the graduate research requirement, within a five-year time period. The professional component starts in the summer semester of the third year and includes ANA 407 Gross Anatomy and OT 351 Occupational Practice Skills I.

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