Technical Standards & Accommodations

Individuals with disabilities are encouraged to apply to the program. However, if you will need to seek support services from the Baylor University Office of Access and Learning Accommodation on the basis of diagnosed disability, you will need to submit documentation to verify eligibility under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. This documentation needs to be recent, preferably within the last three years. For more information about services at Baylor, visit the Office of Access and Learning Accommodation website.

The student must demonstrate the alertness and endurance to attend hybrid-based classes 30 hours or more each week, including active participation in a combination of lectures, discussions, labs, and fieldwork or capstone activities.

• Preparation for class typically requires an additional 20-30 hours per week.
• The curriculum requires scheduled immersion lab experiences in Texas over the course of several 8-hour days.
• During these lab experiences, the student must be an active participant and prepared for all sessions. The student is required to participate as a client, therapist, and observer with a variety of people representing different physical attributes, genders, ages, abilities and disabilities, religious beliefs, sexual orientations, and ethnic backgrounds to simulate the diversity expected in the practice setting.
• Participation in lab experiences may require exposure of body parts and palpation of body structures by faculty, students, and supervisors of both sexes in preparation for professional practice.
• Fieldwork or Capstone experiences often require 40 hours or more per week, on a schedule that aligns with the facility's operating hours and the student’s assigned fieldwork or Capstone educator’s schedule.

The student is expected to possess functional use of the senses of vision, touch, hearing, taste, and smell. All data received by the senses must be integrated, analyzed, and synthesized consistently and accurately. Also, the individual is expected to be able to perceive pain, pressure, temperature, position, equilibrium, and movement.

Observation requires the functional use of vision, hearing, somatic sensations, and common sense. The candidate must have visual perception, which includes depth and acuity.

• A student must be able to observe lectures, laboratory dissections, prosections, and lecture and laboratory demonstrations.
• The student must be able to accurately observe a client, including digital and waveform readings and other graphic images, to determine a client's condition.
• The student must observe clients accurately and obtain an appropriate medical history directly from the client or guardian.
• A student must observe a client accurately at both a distance and up close, noting both verbal and nonverbal signals.
• Appropriate visual field, acuity, and scanning for safety factors is required for emergency situations.
• The student must have adequate functional tactile sensations (i.e., feel vibrations, detect temperatures, and perceive differences in surface characteristics) and proprioceptive abilities necessary to perceive and synthesize input during client evaluations/assessments, interventions, and interactions.

Auditory capacity to receive instructions and to evaluate and provide interventions for clients, involving abilities to hear normal speaking levels, faint body sounds, and auditory alarms, must be present, as well as olfactory abilities to detect odors and smoke.

The occupational therapy student must write, speak, hear, and observe to elicit information, examine, educate, provide interventions, describe changes in mood, activity, posture, and perceive non-verbal communication. Communication includes speech (verbal and non-verbal), language, reading, writing, and computer literacy. 

The student must communicate effectively and sensitively, conveying a sense of compassion and empathy to clients to obtain information about mood and activities and to perceive non-verbal communication. 

Occupational Therapy education presents exceptional challenges in the volume and breadth of required reading and the need to communicate effectively with others. The student must be able to communicate quickly, effectively, and efficiently in oral and written English with all members of the health care team. The student must promptly complete forms and documentation according to directions. 

Communication also includes articulation and speaking at a volume that is understandable to the listener and/or audience, whether in a one-to-one, small group, or large group setting. Sensitivity in communication is required regardless of lifestyle, age, gender, ethnic/racial, religious/spiritual background, educational level, socioeconomic status, or physical, cognitive, or emotional disabilities.

Communication requires the student to uphold privacy and confidentiality policies.

The student is expected to have emotional stability required to exercise sound judgment and complete assessment and intervention activities with clients. The student must establish rapport and maintain sensitive, interpersonal relationships with individuals, families, and groups from a variety of social, emotional, cultural, and intellectual backgrounds. The student is expected to have the flexibility to function effectively under stress. Concern for others, integrity, accountability, interest, and motivation are necessary personal qualities for the occupational therapy student.

The occupational therapy student must have motor function and strength to execute movements required to assess and provide interventions to clients in a therapeutically effective and safe manner.

The student must possess the motor function to elicit information from the client examination. The student must be able to execute movements required to provide general and therapeutic care, such as positioning large or immobile clients for engagement in therapeutic activities, client mobility with the use of therapeutic aids and orthotics, provision of balance stability, and guarding of falls during transferring of clients, performing manual mobilization techniques, and setting up/moving equipment. 

The student must have the physical strength to perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation and emergency treatment for clients. These skills require coordination of both gross and fine motor movements, equilibrium, and the integrated use of the touch, vision, vestibular, and proprioception senses. The student must be able to provide interventions to clients across a variety of mobility activities, including rolling, crawling, standing, walking, and sitting. 

The student must have the capacity to: 

• Sit for long periods
• Stand and maintain balance for up to 6-8 hours per day in-classroom/fieldwork/capstone settings
• Walk or mobilize self through the environment independently
• Occasionally climb stairs or navigate uneven terrain, twist/bend/squat
• Carry equipment and supplies
• Reach above shoulders and to the floor
• Lift/support 25 lbs.
• Exert push-pull forces of a minimum of 25 lbs.
• Coordinate verbal, manual, and gross-motor activities
• Move from place to place and position to position with safe speed, strength, coordination, and endurance for handling equipment and classmates or clients
• Frequently use hands repetitively with a simple grasp and frequently use a firm grasp and manual dexterity
• Pinch/pick-up objects with both hands
• Grasp small objects with hands/fingers
• Twist with hands
• Handwrite or pencil
• Manipulate computer touch screens and keyboards

To effectively solve problems, the student must be able to measure, calculate, reason, analyze, integrate, and synthesize information in a timely fashion, including ‘on the spot’ and under pressure circumstances. 

• The student must be able to synthesize knowledge from multiple sources and integrate the relevant aspects of a client's history, physical examination, and laboratory data; provide a reasoned explanation for therapy; and recall and retain information efficiently and in a timely manner. 
• The ability to incorporate additional information from peers, teachers, and the medical literature when formulating increasingly complex treatment plans throughout the academic program is essential. 
• Also, the student must be able to comprehend three-dimensional relationships and understand the spatial relationships of structures. 
• The student must use computers to search, record, store, retrieve, and communicate information. 
• The student must adhere to safety precautions, demonstrate self-reflection, and apply feedback to develop proactive strategies for growth and development. 
• The student must identify subtle cues in others' moods, temperament, and gestures.

The occupational therapy student must have appropriate social skills to form and maintain mature, culturally sensitive relationships with a variety of people. 

• The student must possess the psychological capacity to fully utilize their intellectual abilities, exercise good judgment, and promptly fulfill responsibilities. 

• The student must tolerate physically and mentally taxing workloads, function effectively under stress, adapt to a changing environment, display flexibility, and learn to work amid the uncertainties inherent in clients' problems. 

• As part of professional education, the student must demonstrate ethical behavior and the ability to work as a team/group member. 

• The student is required to deal appropriately with matters involving pain, grief, death, stress, communicable diseases, blood and body fluids, and toxic substances.

• Compassion, respect, courtesy, integrity, interpersonal skills, motivation, and concern for others are qualities expected of occupational therapy students. 

• The student must demonstrate the ability and willingness to modify behavior after receiving performance feedback. 

• The student must maintain the personal appearance and personal hygiene guidelines appropriate for the classroom, fieldwork, and doctoral capstone facilities.