American Occupational Therapy Association

{{Short description|American professional association}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=October 2021}}

{{More citations needed|date=January 2021}}

{{infobox organization

| name = American Occupational Therapy Association

| abbreviation = AOTA

| logo = aota-logo.png

| type = Professional association

| former_name = National Society for the Promotion of Occupational Therapy

| leader_name = Sherry Keramidas"[https://www.aota.org/about/leadership-governance/executives-staff Executives and Staff Leadership]". American Occupational Therapy Association. Retrieved July 4, 2022.

| leader_title = Executive director

| tax_id = 13-1526422"[https://apps.irs.gov/pub/epostcard/cor/131526422_201906_990O_2020092317323173.pdf Form 990: Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax]". The American Occupational Therapy Association Inc. Internal Revenue Service. June 30, 2019.

| status = 501(c)(6)

| founded = {{start date and age|1917|10|19}}"[https://corponline.dcra.dc.gov/BizEntity.aspx/ViewEntityData?entityId=2750614 American Occupational Therapy Association, Inc., The - Initial File Number: 762419]". Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs. Government of the District of Columbia. Retrieved July 4, 2022.

| purpose = To advance occupational therapy practice, education, and research through standard-setting and advocacy on behalf of its members, the profession, and the public.

| employees = 85

| employees_year = 2018

| volunteers = 800

| volunteers_year = 2018

| revenue = $21,469,960

| revenue_year = 2019

| expenses = $19,272,678

| expenses_year = 2019

| endowment = $286,293 ₍₂₀₁₉₎

| subsidiaries = The Fund to Promote Awareness of Occupational Therapy _(501(c)(3)),
American Occupational Therapy Association Political Action Committee ₍₅₂₇₎

| website = {{URL|http://www.aota.org}}

}}

The American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA) is the national professional association established in 1917 to represent the interests and concerns of occupational therapy practitioners and students and improve the quality of occupational therapy services. AOTA membership is approximately 63,000 occupational therapists, occupational therapy assistants, and students.

File:The_American_Occupational_Therapy_Association_building_in_Bethesda,_Maryland.jpg]]

The National Society for the Promotion of Occupational Therapy was the founding name of the AOTA. Occupational therapy was launched as a new profession at the first meeting of the National Society for the Promotion of Occupational Therapy at Consolation House, Clifton Springs, New York in March 1917. The Society was founded by a small group of people from diverse backgrounds. There was George Edward Barton (1871-1923) an architect, William Rush Dunton (1865-1966) a psychiatrist, Eleanor Clarke Slagle (1870-1942) a social worker and occupational therapist, Thomas B Kidner (1866-1932) a vocational educator, Susan Cox Johnson (1875-1932) an arts and crafts teacher, Susan E. Tracy (1864-1928) a nurse, Herbert James Hall (1870-1923) a physician and Isabel Gladwin Newton Barton (1891-1975) the secretary and author. Their wide ranging interests, including moral treatment, pragmatism, habit training, mental hygiene movement, curative occupations and the arts and craft movement, laid the foundations for occupational therapy.{{Cite journal |last=Peloquin |first=Suzanne M. |date=1991-04-01 |title=Occupational Therapy Service: Individual and Collective Understandings of the Founders, Part 1 |url=https://research.aota.org/ajot/article/45/4/352/2882/Occupational-Therapy-Service-Individual-and |journal=The American Journal of Occupational Therapy |language=en |volume=45 |issue=4 |pages=352–360 |doi=10.5014/ajot.45.4.352 |issn=0272-9490 |doi-access=free}} {{Cite journal |last=Peloquin |first=Suzanne M. |date=1991-08-01 |title=Occupational Therapy Service: Individual and Collective Understandings of the Founders, Part 2 |url=https://research.aota.org/ajot/article/45/8/733/3021/Occupational-Therapy-Service-Individual-and |journal=The American Journal of Occupational Therapy |language=en |volume=45 |issue=8 |pages=733–744 |doi=10.5014/ajot.45.8.733 |issn=0272-9490}}  The founders' vision was the 'advancement of occupation as a therapeutic measure; for the study of the effect of occupation upon the human being; and for the scientific dispensation of this knowledge'.{{Cite book |last=Andersen |first=Lori T. |title=The history of occupational therapy: the first century |last2=Reed |first2=Kathlyn L. |date=2017 |publisher=SLACK Incorporated |isbn=978-1-61711-997-2 |location=Thorofare, NJ}}

AOTA designated April as Occupational Therapy Month.{{Cite web |title=Occupational Therapy Month |url=https://www.aota.org/Conference-Events/OTMonth.aspx |access-date=April 1, 2020 |website=American Occupational Therapy Association |publisher=AOTA}}