Neuro Occupational Therapist: OT Techniques in Daily Practice

Occupational therapy (OT) is a practice that prioritizes increasing the client’s functionality and improving their quality of life.¹ It accomplishes this by helping people strengthen the skills to complete daily tasks, empowering them to be more self-sufficient.

A specific subset of occupational therapy is neuro occupational therapy (neuro OT), which focuses on helping individuals who are recovering from a brain injury, whether a traumatic brain injury, stroke or another neurological condition that has impacted how the brain functions.² Through neuro rehab occupational therapy, these patients can recover from their neurological challenges and lead functional lives.³

What is Neuro Occupational Therapy?

Occupational therapists typically utilize activities, also known as occupations, as therapeutic tools with the ultimate goal of helping their clients manage day-to-day tasks, which improves their health and well-being.¹ Neurological occupational therapists primarily work with individuals who have experienced neurological conditions or events, which can include brain injuries.²

The brain is the command center of the body and plays a significant role in every task we complete each day. This includes the activities of daily living (ADLs) we mastered as a child, such as feeding ourselves or getting dressed. However, following a brain injury, individuals may have difficulty completing these tasks.⁴

Neuro occupational therapy helps those recovering from brain injury relearn key skills or learn how to change their approach or environment to make the tasks feasible.⁵ It’s a vital component of brain injury rehabilitation since it can help improve daily functioning by strengthening the skills needed to complete these tasks and finding alternative approaches that allow the patient to maintain their independence.⁶

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What Does a Neurological Occupational Therapist Do?

A neuro occupational therapist is responsible for assessing the patient, planning their treatment and implementing and adjusting the techniques based on their progress.⁷

Assess the Patient

While a neurological occupational therapist treats a specific patient population, typically those recovering from brain injury, the challenges of each patient can vary.^{8, 9} For instance, some people may struggle with feeding themselves, while others may find that attention and focus are their primary challenges.

The first task of a neuro occupational therapist is to gauge the challenges of the patient. They should also identify the patient’s interests and motivations, as those can help tailor treatment and strategies the patient is more likely to engage with, especially when therapy becomes challenging or discouraging.⁵ Additionally, knowing the patient’s interests can help when creating goals, as it can ensure the patient can perform the hobbies they enjoy.

Create a Treatment Plan

Taking into account the client’s challenges, interests and motivations, the OT develops a neuro occupational therapy treatment plan focused on achieving a series of targeted goals. They consider the patient’s starting point and identify the specific skills that need to be strengthened to reach their goals.⁵ They combine this knowledge with their understanding of the brain and its functionality.

Implement Therapy Techniques

Once a treatment plan is established, the neuro occupational therapist begins implementing the outlined therapy techniques. During each session, the therapist and patient work together to  build and strengthen various skills, all aimed at achieving the overall goals defined in the treatment plan.³

During neuro rehabilitation occupational therapy, the OT is responsible for modifying the treatment plan as needed based on the patient’s progress during the sessions. If one therapy technique proves to be unsuccessful or the environment is too challenging for the patient, the OT must be able to adapt.⁵

Key Techniques in Neuro Occupational Therapy

Neuro occupational therapy consists of the following key techniques: ^{3, 5}

• Cognitive rehabilitation. Neuro rehab occupational therapy can help restore cognitive functioning following a brain injury, improving attention, focus or problem-solving capabilities.⁵ The patient can then use these skills when completing daily tasks.
• Motor relearning. Following a brain injury, the patient may no longer be able to complete a physical action that was once second nature. Neuro occupational therapy helps patients relearn these motor skills to perform everyday activities.³
• Activity modification. A neuro occupational therapist identifies limitations and adopts a problem-solving approach as they modify the activity or environment so the patient may complete it.⁵
• Build a safe rapport. For therapy to be successful, a neurological occupational therapist must create a sense of safety by building rapport with their patients and determining what they need to feel safe.⁵ Building this connection, such as involving the patient in rehabilitation, allows the patient’s physical ability and cognitive functioning to shine.

Neuro Occupational Therapy vs. Occupational Therapy

Traditional occupational therapy leverages activities as therapeutic tools, to help individuals independently complete day-to-day tasks.¹ With neuro occupational therapy, the patient population is primarily those recovering from a brain injury. ³

For this patient population, there is often an added element of frustration since they are relearning skills that had once been easy for them.¹⁰  A neuro occupational therapist must possess empathy and patience to understand their clients’ feelings.¹¹

Additionally, a brain injury can affect someone’s cognitive functioning, making it so that their brain struggles to complete tasks and requiring the client to approach tasks in an entirely new manner.¹² With neurological rehabilitation occupational therapy, the OT must rethink their therapeutic approach based on what the patient can do, which can be heavily influenced by the injury sustained.⁵

Training and Qualifications for Neuro Occupational Therapists

To become a neuro occupational therapist, first earn an occupational therapy degree.¹³ This starts with a bachelor’s degree, meeting admissions requirements and acceptance into a graduate occupational therapy program. “Licensing requirements vary by state, but at a minimum, candidates must pass the national certification examination administered by the National Board for Certification in Occupational Therapy (NBCOT).” Once you complete the program and pass the national certification exam, you can begin practicing as an occupational therapist. ¹³

To specialize and work with patients who experience neurological conditions, train through continuing education courses, such as the American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA) fellowship programs. You can also obtain Board Certification in Physical Rehabilitation.^{14, 15} These trainings offer an advanced understanding of the brain and how it functions, and board certification verifies your knowledge across various rehab settings.

Start Your Journey to Become a Neuro Occupational Therapist

Gaining an understanding of neurological conditions allows occupational therapists to better understand this unique patient population and their challenges. A neuro occupational therapist helps to treat neurological impairments while improving their patients’ quality of life.²

Interested in supporting neurological rehabilitation through occupational therapy? Explore the OT graduate programs at the University of St. Augustine for Health Sciences (USAHS), including the Master of Occupational Therapy (MOT) and Doctor of Occupational Therapy (OTD) programs. Build your foundational OT knowledge and get one step closer to a rewarding career with specialized patient populations.

Sources

1. “What is occupational therapy?” Aota.org, 2023,  https://www.aota.org/about/what-is-ot.
2. Ishii, R., Kirimoto, H., Yoshimura, M., & Tabira, T. “Editorial: Translational research of occupational therapy and neurorehabilitation, volume II,” Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 2024: 18, https://doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2024.1426481.
3. Leyder, M. C. J. S., & Breytenbach, F. “Factors affecting occupational therapy services for patients with traumatic brain injury,” African Journal of Disability, 2023: 12, https://doi.org/10.4102/ajod.v12i0.1203.
4. “Relearning the Activities of Daily Living After Traumatic Brain Injury: The Key to Independence,” Flint Rehab, April 27, 2023,  https://www.flintrehab.com/traumatic-brain-injury-activities-of-daily-living.
5. Brown, A., Tse, T., & Fortune, T. “Neuro‐behavioural changes after acquired brain injury: The role of the occupational therapist; the interventions they use and why,” Australian Occupational Therapy Journal, 2023: 70(6), 712–721, https://doi.org/10.1111/1440-1630.12901.
6. “World Federation of Occupational Therapists,” WFOT, https://wfot.org/about/about-occupational-therapy.
7. “What Occupational Therapists Do,” Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2025, https://www.bls.gov/ooh/healthcare/occupational-therapists.htm#tab-2.
8. “Non-Traumatic Brain Injury,” Brain Injury Association of America, 2023, https://biausa.org/brain-injury/about-brain-injury/what-is-a-brain-injury/non-traumatic-brain-injury.
9. “Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI),” National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, 2024, https://www.ninds.nih.gov/health-information/disorders/traumatic-brain-injury-tbi.
10. “Changes in Emotion After Traumatic Brain Injury,” MSKTC, 2022,  https://msktc.org/tbi/factsheets/changes-emotion-after-traumatic-brain-injury.
11. Lee, K., “Empathy in Action: How Occupational Therapists Renew Hope and Independence,” Focus Staff, September 21, 2023, https://focus-staff.com/empathy-in-action-how-occupational-therapists-renew-hope-and-independence/.
12. Mavroudis, I., et al. “Cognitive Impairment following Mild Traumatic Brain Injury (mTBI): A Review,” Medicina, 2024: 60(3), 380–380, https://doi.org/10.3390/medicina60030380.
13. “How to Become an Occupational Therapist,” Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2025, https://www.bls.gov/ooh/healthcare/occupational-therapists.htm#tab-4.
14. “OT board certification in physical rehabilitation (BCPR),” AOTA, 2023, https://www.aota.org/career/advanced-certification-program/physical-rehabilitation.
15. “AOTA Neurology Fellowship Programs,” AOTA, 2023, https://www.aota.org/career/career-center/fellowship-program/fellowship-directory/neurology.