Occupational Therapy Aide job description
292 verified openings in Allied Health & Therapy
Only 4,310 people held this job nationwide when BLS counted for May 2025, which makes it a small field to hunt in and a title worth setting an alert for. Median pay was $39,160, and the spread is wide for so few jobs: $29,430 at the tenth percentile, $70,200 at the ninetieth. O*NET keeps the aide to delegated, routine tasks, closely supervised by an occupational therapist or an occupational therapy assistant, with preparing the patient and the treatment room named among them.
Core Duties and Responsibilities
What matters most is encouraging patients and attending to their physical needs so the therapy goals actually get met. Reporting back to the supervising therapist on progress, attitude, and attendance is next, and those observations go into the client record. Aides keep the work area and the inventory of treatment and educational supplies in order, bring patients to and from the therapy area, and run infection control and equipment security for the department. Teaching is a real part of it: living, work, and social skills for patients and their families, the care and use of adaptive equipment, and therapy techniques that include manual and creative arts and games.
Common Skills and Technologies
This work is built around getting a discouraged patient to try one more time, which is why service orientation comes first, then speaking and social perceptiveness. MEDITECH is the one clinical system named for this work; everything else is ordinary office software for client records, supply orders, and scheduling.
Education, Training, and Career Path
O*NET Job Zone Three, a step above the physical therapy aide's Two even though the titles look parallel. Aides surveyed reported 37% a high school diploma or equivalent, 28% an associate's degree, 24% some college courses, and 9% a certificate earned after high school. One reported title, Certified Occupational Rehabilitation Aide, carries a certification with it.
Sources: O*NET 30.0, 31-2012.00 Occupational Therapy Aides, https://www.onetonline.org/link/summary/31-2012.00. BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025, 31-2012, https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes312012.htm.