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Overview
Assist occupational therapists in providing occupational therapy treatments and procedures. May, in accordance with state laws, assist in development of treatment plans, carry out routine functions, direct activity programs, and document the progress of treatments. Generally requires formal training.
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Titles for this career often contain these words
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Responsibilities and activities
Occupational therapy assistants typically do the following:
- Help patients do therapeutic activities, such as stretches and other exercises
- Lead children who have developmental disabilities in play activities that promote coordination and socialization
- Encourage patients to complete activities and tasks
- Teach patients how to use special equipment—for example, showing a patient with Parkinson’s disease how to use devices that make eating easier
- Record patients’ progress, report to occupational therapists, and do other administrative tasks
Occupational therapy aides typically do the following:
- Prepare treatment areas, such as setting up therapy equipment
- Transport patients
- Clean treatment areas and equipment
- Help patients with billing and insurance forms
- Perform clerical tasks, including scheduling appointments and answering telephones
Occupational therapy assistants collaborate with occupational therapists to develop and carry out a treatment plan for each patient. Plans include diverse activities such as teaching the proper way for patients to move from a bed into a wheelchair and advising patients on the best way to stretch their muscles. For example, an occupational therapy assistant might work with injured workers to help them get back into the workforce by teaching them how to work around lost motor skills. Occupational therapy assistants also may work with people who have learning disabilities, teaching them skills that allow them to be more independent.
Assistants monitor activities to make sure that patients are doing them correctly. They record the patient’s progress and provide feedback to the occupational therapist so that the therapist can change the treatment plan if the patient is not getting the desired results.
Occupational therapy aides typically prepare materials and assemble equipment used during treatment. They may assist patients with moving to and from treatment areas. After a therapy session, aides clean the treatment area, put away equipment, and gather laundry.
Occupational therapy aides fill out insurance forms and other paperwork and are responsible for a range of clerical tasks, such as scheduling appointments, answering the telephone, and monitoring inventory levels.
Salary
Median salary: $62,940 annually
Half of those employed in this career earn between $53,640 and $74,770.
Context: Median Salary
How do salaries for this career compare to other jobs' salaries?
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Salary growth for occupational therapy assistants and aides
Is this job likely to reward you for sticking with it through pay raises and promotions? The higher a job’s “experience quotient,” the more you are likely to get as you stay there.
Experience quotient percentile
Take a minute to look at how much you might expect your salary to increase with each five years' experience, as well as how the numbers working at each age change. Does this seem to be a job for the young or the old, or could it be a career offering steady salary growth for many years?
Salary distribution
Number employed
About Occupational Therapy Assistants
How do benefits for this career compare to other jobs? The availability of health care, especially employer provided health care, and pension plans can add significantly to the value of compensation you receive in a career. These charts compare how this career compares to other careers with regard to health care and pension plans.
Employee has health insurance
Employer is providing health insurance
Worker concerns
Some jobs are more stressful than others, and some are just plain dangerous. The following list gives the percentages of occupational therapy assistants who report hazardous or difficult situations typically occurring at least once a week.
- Exposed to Disease or Infections (93%)
- Exposed to Contaminants (83%)
- Time Pressure (81%)
- Unpleasant or Angry People (57%)
- Responsible for Others' Health (56%)
- Consequence of Error (47%)
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Personality and skills
Can you see yourself in the ranks of Occupational Therapy Assistants? Here are the skills and traits that could lead to success.
Adaptability
Assistants must be flexible when treating patients. Because not every type of therapy will work for each patient, assistants may need to be creative when working with occupational therapists to determine the best therapy to achieve a patient’s goals.
Compassion
Occupational therapy assistants and aides frequently work with patients who struggle with many of life’s basic activities. As a result, they should be compassionate and have the ability to encourage others.
Detail oriented
Occupational therapy assistants and aides must quickly and accurately follow the instructions, both written and spoken, of an occupational therapist. In addition, aides must pay attention to detail when performing clerical tasks, such as helping a patient fill out an insurance form.
Interpersonal skills
Occupational therapy assistants and aides spend much of their time interacting with patients and therefore should be friendly and courteous. They also should communicate clearly with patients and with patients’ families to the extent of their training.
Physical strength
Assistants and aides need to have a moderate degree of strength because of the physical exertion required to assist patients. Constant kneeling, stooping, and standing for long periods also are part of the job.
Injury and Illness
About 129 occupational therapy assistants become injured or ill for every 10,000 workers, making this job more dangerous than 86% of other careers. The most common specific illnesses or injuries are detailed following.
Sprains, strains, tears
Soreness and pain
Education pathways to this career
Education attained by occupational therapy assistants
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), occupational therapy assistants typically hold a associate's degree.
Sometimes the typical education identified by the BLS differs a bit from the reality of the how much education current workers actually have. The donut shows the education level held by people currently working as occupational therapy assistants and aides as reported in responses to the American Community Survey.
Details: Licensing and certification recommended for occupational therapy assistants
All states regulate the practice of occupational therapy assistants, with most requiring licensure. Licensure typically requires the completion of an accredited occupational therapy assistant education program, completion of all fieldwork requirements, and passing the National Board for Certification in Occupational Therapy (NBCOT) exam. Some states have additional requirements.
Occupational therapy assistants must pass the NBCOT exam to use the title “Certified Occupational Therapy Assistant” (COTA). They must also take continuing education classes to maintain their certification.
The American Occupational Therapy Association also offers a number of specialty certifications for occupational therapy assistants who want to demonstrate their specialized level of knowledge, skills, and abilities in specialized areas of practice such as low vision or feeding, eating, and swallowing.
Occupational therapy aides are not regulated by state law.
Education level of Occupational Therapy Assistants and Aides
Only 18% of occupational therapy assistants and aides have a bachelor's degree or higher.
Education attained by occupational therapy assistants and aides
None
High School
Some College
Associate's Degree
Bachelor's Degree
Master's Degree
Professional Degree
Doctorate
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Programs recommended by the Department of Education
The Department of Education recommends the following college degree programs as preparation for this career. You can click the program row to learn more about the program and explore a list of schools that offer the program.
Number of degrees awarded in 2018
Education
Education level of awarded degrees
Assoc./Cert.
Bachelor's
Graduate
Gender
Gender of graduates
Men
Women
Race/Origin
Race/origin of graduates
White
Minority
International
Where are the jobs
State-by-state employment numbers
Some careers tend to be centered in specific parts of the country. For example, most jobs in fashion are in New York or California. Let's see if your dream job is easy to find in your dream location! We have a few choices for viewing the data that can help you get a full employment picture.
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Number of Occupational Therapy Assistants and Aides per 1,000 workers (ACS)
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Job density versus job count
Which states hire the most occupational therapy assistants? We wonder if that's a fair question since states come in all sizes, so instead let's start with the question of which states have the highest density of people working as occupational therapy assistants. You can choose to view the number of jobs per state if you prefer.
Salaries by state
Let's get a feel for where occupational therapy assistants earn the highest salaries. There are several choices for which data we consider and how we view that data, and each can lead to different conclusions, so please read on...
Median salary versus state ratio
We use two methods to compare salaries across states:
- In-state comparisons: the ratio of median (middle) salaries for occupational therapy assistants and aides compared to the median salary for all people working in each state, or
- Median salary: the unaltered median salaries for occupational therapy assistants and aides.
The darkest shading corresponds to states in which occupational therapy assistants and aides earn the highest salary when compared to other jobs in the state. We think this figure might be a better indicator than the actual salary for your buying power as a state resident.
Select a state to see local area details
Location-adjusted median salary for Occupational Therapy Assistants and Aides (ACS for all specialties)
Employment
28% of Occupational therapy assistants and aides are working part time.
We’ve found that some jobs have a huge number of part-time workers, and typically that is because they are unable to find full-time work or the job itself can’t provide full-time hours. With 28% part-time workers, this occupation has a higher percentage of part-time workers than 81% of careers.
Employer types
This donut shares the break-down of workers by employer type, giving us a picture of what employers most typically hire for this career.
Employers of undefined (ACS)
Private for-profit
Private not-for-profit
Local government
State government
Federal government
Self-employed incorporated
Self-employed not incorporated
Working without pay
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Distribution: Salaries of occupational therapy assistants and aides by type of employer
Here are the salary distributions based on employer type.
Gender
Occupational therapy assistants and aides and gender
With 84% women, this occupation has a higher percentage of women than 93% of careers.
Gender of Occupational therapy assistants and aides
Men (16%)
Women (84%)
Distribution: salaries by gender
Does gender greatly influence your salary in this career? The closer the bars are, the less discrepancy there is.
We only include salary data when the survey error is less than 20%, so you may see only partial information for some categories.
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Context: Women in the workforce
How does this career compare to other careers with regard to the percentage of women in the career.
Context: Salary inequity
The median salary for all full-time male workers in the
US exceeds the full-time median salary for women
by 19%.
The situation is a little better for occupational therapy assistants and aides, with the
median salary for men 8%
higher than the median salary for women.
Race/Origin
Race and origin of Occupational therapy assistants and aides
This donut shows the distribution of race and origin among those employed as Occupational therapy assistants and aides.
Race/origin of occupational therapy assistants and aides
White (80% )
Black (11% )
Asian (4% )
Multiracial (3% )
Other (2% )
Hispanic (1% )
American Indian (1% )
Distribution: salaries by race/origin
Some careers might have a pay disparity based on race or origin, the closer the below bars are the less of a discrepancy is present.
We only include salary data when the survey error is less than 20%, so you may see only partial information for some categories.
