Occupational Therapy Assistant job description: duties, skills and qualifications.

Core duties

16

O*NET task statements

Preparation

Job Zone 3 of 5

medium preparation

Typical entry education

Associate's degree

BLS 2025–35

Median pay

$72,300

BLS May 2025

1. Instruct, or assist in instructing, patients and families in home programs, basic living skills, or the care and use of adaptive equipment. importance 4.8 of 5
2. Maintain and promote a positive attitude toward clients and their treatment programs. importance 4.8 of 5
3. Report to supervisors, verbally or in writing, on patients' progress, attitudes, and behavior. importance 4.8 of 5
4. Implement, or assist occupational therapists with implementing, treatment plans designed to help clients function independently. importance 4.8 of 5
5. Monitor patients' performance in therapy activities, providing encouragement. importance 4.8 of 5
6. Observe and record patients' progress, attitudes, and behavior and maintain this information in client records. importance 4.7 of 5
7. Select therapy activities to fit patients' needs and capabilities. importance 4.7 of 5
8. Attend continuing education classes. importance 4.7 of 5
9. Aid patients in dressing and grooming themselves. importance 4.7 of 5
10. Evaluate the daily living skills or capacities of clients with physical, developmental, or mental health disabilities. importance 4.6 of 5
11. Communicate and collaborate with other healthcare professionals involved with the care of a patient. importance 4.6 of 5
12. Alter treatment programs to obtain better results if treatment is not having the intended effect. importance 4.5 of 5
13. Assemble, clean, or maintain equipment or materials for patient use. importance 4.5 of 5
14. Transport patients to and from the occupational therapy work area. importance 4.4 of 5
15. Design, fabricate, or repair assistive devices or make adaptive changes to equipment or environments. importance 4.4 of 5
16. Attend care plan meetings to review patient progress and update care plans. importance 4.3 of 5

Work activities O*NET rates most important here: Documenting/Recording Information, Communicating with Supervisors, Peers, or Subordinates, Assisting and Caring for Others, Thinking Creatively and Establishing and Maintaining Interpersonal Relationships.

Also part of the job

Supplemental tasks O*NET lists for this occupation: less central than the core duties above, and not done in every job.

• Assist educational specialists or clinical psychologists in administering situational or diagnostic tests to measure client's abilities or progress.

Knowledge areas: Customer and Personal Service, Psychology, Education and Training, English Language and Therapy and Counseling.

Software O*NET lists for this occupation: Facebook, eClinicalWorks EHR software, Microsoft Access, Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Office software, Microsoft Outlook. These are examples O*NET records for the job, not a list of tools every employer uses or a checklist of what you must know.

• Education: BLS lists an associate's degree as the typical entry-level education.
• Experience: BLS lists no work experience in a related occupation as typical to enter.
• Training on the job: BLS lists no typical on-the-job training once hired.
• Preparation: O*NET places the job in Job Zone 3 of 5 (medium preparation). Previous work-related skill, knowledge, or experience is required for these occupations.
• Licenses and certifications: not listed here. A license is a legal requirement set by a state; a certification is a credential from a private or professional body. Rules vary by state and employer, and a missing entry on this page does not mean none is required: check with your state's licensing board and see how to become an occupational therapy assistant.

Most occupational therapy assistants surveyed by O*NET (92%) name an associate's degree as the education the job requires.

Job title: Occupational Therapy Assistant
[Company] · [City, State] · [Full-time or part-time] · [Pay range, where your state requires one]

About the role
[Company] is hiring an Occupational Therapy Assistant to assist occupational therapists in providing occupational therapy treatments and procedures.
[One sentence on your team and why this role matters.]

What you will do
- Instruct, or assist in instructing, patients and families in home programs, basic living skills, or the care and use of adaptive equipment.
- Maintain and promote a positive attitude toward clients and their treatment programs.
- Report to supervisors, verbally or in writing, on patients' progress, attitudes, and behavior.
- Implement, or assist occupational therapists with implementing, treatment plans designed to help clients function independently.
- Monitor patients' performance in therapy activities, providing encouragement.
- Observe and record patients' progress, attitudes, and behavior and maintain this information in client records.
- Select therapy activities to fit patients' needs and capabilities.
- Attend continuing education classes.

What we are looking for
- [Education: BLS lists an associate's degree as typical for this occupation; set the level this role truly needs]
- [Experience: BLS lists no related work experience as typical to enter; set what this role needs]
- Strength in social perceptiveness, service orientation and active listening
- Working knowledge of Customer and Personal Service and Psychology
- [Software your team uses, e.g. Facebook or eClinicalWorks EHR software]
- [Any license or certification your state or company requires]

[Schedule, benefits and how to apply]

Illustrative: every name, employer, school, date and number in these samples is fictional or a bracketed placeholder. Replace each bracket with your own true details; never copy a result you did not achieve.

Not a real job posting. This template is TryHired's illustration built from government occupational data. It is not an opening at any employer, and no employer wrote it.

The median annual wage was $72,300 in May 2025. The median hourly wage was $34.76. BLS estimates about 51,290 jobs in this occupation in the U.S.

BLS projects employment of occupational therapy assistants to grow 21.5% from 2025 to 2035, with about 8,100 openings a year over that period, including openings to replace workers who leave.

See the full occupational therapy assistant salary breakdown by percentile, state and metro.

• Read a real occupational therapy assistant posting next to the core duties above. Duties it repeats, such as “Instruct, or assist in instructing, patients and families in home…”, tell you what that employer weighs most; anything it adds is specific to that team.
• Tailor your resume to the posting, not to this page: describe only occupational therapy assistant work you have actually done, with your own results.
• Prepare a story for each of the top-rated skills (social perceptiveness and service orientation).