The Concentration in Occupational and Physical Therapy is designed to prepare students for graduate study in Physical or Occupational Therapy. By combining fieldwork with classroom learning the concentration builds the knowledge necessary for students to obtain a career helping people achieve independence, meaning and satisfaction in their lives or restoring independence after an injury, illness, disability or psychological dysfunction.
A student may complete any major while also completing the concentration. Many students interested in Occupational or Physical Therapy have majored in Biology, Human Services and Rehabilitation Studies, or Psychology, and many of the courses required for the concentration are also required for completion of these majors.
Experiential Learning
A significant distinction of Assumption’s HSRS curriculum is a required internship that enables students to develop and refine the knowledge, skills and attitudes necessary for working as a human service professional. Each student in the Occupational and Physical Therapy concentration is placed for a semester in an appropriate setting to develop clinical skills.
Concentration Requirements
Students concentrating in Occuptational and Physical Therapy must take 16 required courses specific to the field.
Movement and Rehabilitation Sciences (MARS) Laboratory
Assumption College is home to one of the few motion capture laboratories in Central Massachusetts, called the Movement and Rehabilitation Sciences (MARS) Laboratory. Dr. Bob Caron of the Human Services and Rehabilitation Studies department works with student research assistants to conduct research on gait patterns. Students are fully immersed in the research project from conceptualization to gathering data, interpreting data to writing and presenting the research. The MARS Lab provides Assumption’s undergraduate students with the unique opportunity to learn how to use a highly sophisticated motion capture system. Most students using systems like this are studying at the graduate level. Participating in this sort of research can distinguish Assumption students in the application process for Occupational and Physical Therapy graduate programs or other graduate programs in health, exercise or rehabilitation sciences.
Names: Dr. Bob Caron, Kyler Huffert and Steven Johnson
Research Project Title: Biomechanics of Walking and Jogging with a Jogging Stroller
Synopsis: We’re studying the effect of pushing a jogging stroller on the walking and jogging patterns of healthy subjects. In the Movement and Rehabilitation Sciences (MARS) lab, we seek to understand how perturbations to our normal gait result in adaptations by the human body. This research will further our understanding of how the body works and, hopefully, how the interface between human and machine can be enhanced to help us move more naturally.
“I like having students participate in my research. It’s fun and intellectually engaging, but I’m really a teacher. Working with students in the lab is another way of teaching. The MARS research lab is an area that is meaningful, purposeful and will have long-lasting results as my students become clinicians, researchers or maybe even professors someday.” - Dr. Bob Caron
Stephen JohnsonBiology with a concentration in Physical Therapy '16Internship: Physical Therapy Assistant at Worcester Physical Therapy; Post-Grad Plans: Doctor of Physical Therapy at Boston University
Cassie LincolnPsychology '15Doctor of Physical Therapy student at Sacred Heart University
