Texas Occupational Therapy Assistant license renewal and CE requirements

Summary

Texas occupational therapy assistants must complete 24 contact hours of continuing education every two years to renew their license with the Texas Board of Occupational Therapy Examiners. Section 370.1(a) of the OT Rules states that licensees renew their licenses every two years by the end of their birth month, and a licensee may not provide occupational therapy services without a current license. A license may be renewed up to three months before the expiration date, and may still be renewed while it has been expired less than one year, with late fees. Once a license has been expired one year or more it cannot be renewed and the licensee must apply for restoration under section 370.3. Texas also mandates specific subjects. Training course on human trafficking approved by the Texas Health and Human Services Commission: required every renewal cycle. Online Jurisprudence Examination (JP Exam): required every renewal cycle.

Texas Occupational Therapy Assistant renewal and continuing education rules

"Not stated" means the board's pages and rules we read do not address it. We do not fill in typical values.

The board's continuing education page states in one sentence that Texas OT and OTA licensees are required to complete 24 contact hours of continuing education each renewal period, so the assistant total is the same as the therapist total and is not a reduced figure. Unless Chapter 367 says otherwise, 1 hour of continuing education equals 1 contact hour. The current Chapter 367 took effect June 1, 2024, and the 24 hour figure took effect September 1, 2019. Activities are either pre-approved (an HHSC approved human trafficking course, or activities approved or offered by AOTA or the Texas Occupational Therapy Association) or must meet the content and category tests in section 367.2. Documentation showing AOTA CEUs is converted by multiplying by ten, so .1 AOTA CEU is 1 contact hour. There is no maximum on contact hours earned from in-service programs, training programs, institutes, seminars, workshops, facility-based courses, internet-based courses, conference sessions and home-study courses with specified learning objectives, so no single self-study or online cap applies, although other categories such as supervision, presentations, mentorship and independent studies do carry their own limits in section 367.2. Section 367.1(b)(4) lets a licensee who submits a complete renewal before the month the license expires count continuing education completed during that expiration month toward the next renewal period. Being supervised by an occupational therapist is a practice requirement for an assistant and is not continuing education, but supervising fieldwork students is a listed continuing education category.

Required CE topics for Texas occupational therapy assistants

State-specific subject mandates. Where a mandate applies only to some licensees, the scope is listed.

Documentation and audit

Common questions

How many CE hours does a Texas OTA need to renew?

Texas occupational therapy assistants must complete 24 contact hours of continuing education every two years to renew their license with the Texas Board of Occupational Therapy Examiners. The board's continuing education page states in one sentence that Texas OT and OTA licensees are required to complete 24 contact hours of continuing education each renewal period, so the assistant total is the same as the therapist total and is not a reduced figure. Unless Chapter 367 says otherwise, 1 hour of continuing education equals 1 contact hour. The current Chapter 367 took effect June 1, 2024, and the 24 hour figure took effect September 1, 2019. Activities are either pre-approved (an HHSC approved human trafficking course, or activities approved or offered by AOTA or the Texas Occupational Therapy Association) or must meet the content and category tests in section 367.2. Documentation showing AOTA CEUs is converted by multiplying by ten, so .1 AOTA CEU is 1 contact hour. There is no maximum on contact hours earned from in-service programs, training programs, institutes, seminars, workshops, facility-based courses, internet-based courses, conference sessions and home-study courses with specified learning objectives, so no single self-study or online cap applies, although other categories such as supervision, presentations, mentorship and independent studies do carry their own limits in section 367.2. Section 367.1(b)(4) lets a licensee who submits a complete renewal before the month the license expires count continuing education completed during that expiration month toward the next renewal period. Being supervised by an occupational therapist is a practice requirement for an assistant and is not continuing education, but supervising fieldwork students is a listed continuing education category.

How often does a Texas OTA license need to be renewed?

Occupational Therapy Assistant licenses in Texas renew every two years. Section 370.1(a) of the OT Rules states that licensees renew their licenses every two years by the end of their birth month, and a licensee may not provide occupational therapy services without a current license. A license may be renewed up to three months before the expiration date, and may still be renewed while it has been expired less than one year, with late fees. Once a license has been expired one year or more it cannot be renewed and the licensee must apply for restoration under section 370.3.

What specific CE topics are required for Texas occupational therapy assistants?

Training course on human trafficking approved by the Texas Health and Human Services Commission: required every renewal cycle. Online Jurisprudence Examination (JP Exam): required every renewal cycle. Citations: training course on human trafficking approved by the Texas Health and Human Services Commission (40 TAC 367.1(b)).

Do Texas occupational therapy assistants have to submit CE certificates at renewal?

Licensees attest to completion at renewal rather than submitting certificates, the board audits a sample of renewals and asks for documentation, and records must be kept for 4 years. Except for the human trafficking course, which must be approved by the Texas Health and Human Services Commission, licensees are not required to take a course approved by any specific entity or pre-approved by the board. Activities approved or offered by AOTA or the Texas Occupational Therapy Association are pre-approved; everything else must meet the content, category and documentation tests in sections 367.1 and 367.2, and the licensee is solely responsible for judging that.

Sources

Last verified September 9, 2026. Every value above was read from one of these.

• OT Continuing Education, Texas Board of Occupational Therapy ExaminersState board page, accessed September 9, 2026
• OT License Renewal, Texas Board of Occupational Therapy ExaminersState board page, accessed September 9, 2026
• Texas Board of OT Examiners, Executive Council of Physical Therapy and Occupational Therapy ExaminersState board page, accessed September 9, 2026
• OT Acts and Rules, Texas Board of Occupational Therapy ExaminersState board page, accessed September 9, 2026

The occupational therapy assistant figures were read as assistant figures: the board's continuing education page names OT and OTA licensees together in the 24 contact hour sentence, the board publishes a single Paper OT/OTA License Renewal Form, and section 370.1(a) applies the two year birth month cycle to licensees generally. Occupational therapy in Texas is regulated by the Texas Board of Occupational Therapy Examiners, which sits alongside the Texas Board of Physical Therapy Examiners under the Executive Council of Physical Therapy and Occupational Therapy Examiners and shares the ptot.texas.gov site with it. The two boards have separate rules: occupational therapy is in Title 40, Part 12 of the Texas Administrative Code, and physical therapy is in Title 22, Chapter 341. None of the physical therapist assistant figures were reused: a Texas physical therapist assistant needs 20 continuing competence units, while an occupational therapy assistant needs 24 contact hours. Every figure here was read on the board's own pages, which quote the rule text directly, including section 370.1(a) for the cycle, section 367.1(b) and (b)(3)(A) for the human trafficking requirement and its 2 contact hour pre-approved credit, section 367.1(b)(4) for the early renewal timing rule, and section 367.3(c) for the four year documentation retention period. The Secretary of State's Texas Administrative Code viewer has moved to an Appian portal at texas-sos.appianportalsgov.com that renders rule text inside a cross-origin frame and did not yield readable text, and the Texas Register archive pages on sos.texas.gov returned HTTP 403, so the rule text itself was read only as quoted by the board. The rules state no ethics continuing education mandate, no category minimum, no first renewal exemption and no carryover of excess hours. Fingerprinting is a one time renewal condition and, from September 1, 2026, a Social Security number is required for issuance, renewal and restoration; neither is continuing education.