Occupational Therapy Aides

• Summary

• Details

Work Activities

• Perform clerical, administrative, and secretarial duties, such as answering phones, restocking and ordering supplies, filling out paperwork, and scheduling appointments.
• Report to supervisors or therapists, verbally or in writing, on patients' progress, attitudes, attendance, and accomplishments.
• Observe patients' attendance, progress, attitudes, and accomplishments and record and maintain information in client records.
• Assist educational specialists or clinical psychologists in administering situational or diagnostic tests to measure client's abilities or progress.
• Transport patients to and from the occupational therapy work area.
• Instruct patients and families in work, social, and living skills, the care and use of adaptive equipment, and other skills to facilitate home and work adjustment to disability.
• Demonstrate therapy techniques, such as manual and creative arts and games.
• Report to supervisors or therapists, verbally or in writing, on patients' progress, attitudes, attendance, and accomplishments.
• Accompany patients on outings, providing transportation when necessary.
• Observe patients' attendance, progress, attitudes, and accomplishments and record and maintain information in client records.
• Prepare and maintain work area, materials, and equipment and maintain inventory of treatment and educational supplies.
• Instruct patients and families in work, social, and living skills, the care and use of adaptive equipment, and other skills to facilitate home and work adjustment to disability.
• Manage intradepartmental infection control and equipment security.
• Manage intradepartmental infection control and equipment security.
• Perform clerical, administrative, and secretarial duties, such as answering phones, restocking and ordering supplies, filling out paperwork, and scheduling appointments.
• Perform clerical, administrative, and secretarial duties, such as answering phones, restocking and ordering supplies, filling out paperwork, and scheduling appointments.
• Supervise patients in choosing and completing work assignments or arts and crafts projects.
• Adjust and repair assistive devices and make adaptive changes to other equipment and to environments.
• Observe patients' attendance, progress, attitudes, and accomplishments and record and maintain information in client records.
• Prepare and maintain work area, materials, and equipment and maintain inventory of treatment and educational supplies.
• Encourage patients and attend to their physical needs to facilitate the attainment of therapeutic goals.
• Evaluate the living skills and capacities of clients with physical, developmental, or mental health disabilities.
• Prepare and maintain work area, materials, and equipment and maintain inventory of treatment and educational supplies.
• Assist occupational therapists in planning, implementing, and administering therapy programs to restore, reinforce, and enhance performance, using selected activities and special equipment.

Skills

• Systems Analysis
  • Figuring out how a system should work and how changes in the future will affect it.
• Reading Comprehension
  • Reading work-related information.
• Critical Thinking
  • Thinking about the pros and cons of different ways to solve a problem.
• Instructing
  • Teaching people how to do something.
• Management of Financial Resources
  • Making spending decisions and keeping track of what is spent.
• Repairing
  • Repairing machines or systems using the right tools.
• Troubleshooting
  • Figuring out what is causing equipment, machines, wiring, or computer programs to not work.
• Active Learning
  • Figuring out how to use new ideas or things.
• Learning Strategies
  • Using the best training or teaching strategies for learning new things.
• Operation and Control
  • Using equipment or systems.
• Coordination
  • Changing what is done based on other people's actions.
• Speaking
  • Talking to others.
• Monitoring
  • Keeping track of how well people and/or groups are doing in order to make improvements.
• Installation
  • Installing equipment, machines, wiring, or computer programs.
• Service Orientation
  • Looking for ways to help people.
• Management of Material Resources
  • Managing equipment and materials.
• Operations Analysis
  • Figuring out what a product or service needs to be able to do.
• Negotiation
  • Bringing people together to solve differences.
• Equipment Maintenance
  • Planning and doing the basic maintenance on equipment.
• Equipment Selection
  • Deciding what kind of tools and equipment are needed to do a job.
• Mathematics
  • Using math to solve problems.
• Operations Monitoring
  • Watching gauges, dials, or display screens to make sure a machine is working.
• Judgment and Decision Making
  • Thinking about the pros and cons of different options and picking the best one.
• Programming
  • Writing computer programs.
• Technology Design
  • Making equipment and technology useful for customers.
• Active Listening
  • Listening to others, not interrupting, and asking good questions.
• Persuasion
  • Talking people into changing their minds or their behavior.
• Writing
  • Writing things for co-workers or customers.
• Complex Problem Solving
  • Noticing a problem and figuring out the best way to solve it.
• Systems Evaluation
  • Measuring how well a system is working and how to improve it.
• Time Management
  • Managing your time and the time of other people.
• Management of Personnel Resources
  • Selecting and managing the best workers for a job.
• Quality Control Analysis
  • Testing how well a product or service works.
• Science
  • Using scientific rules and strategies to solve problems.
• Social Perceptiveness
  • Understanding people's reactions.

Abilities

• Static Strength
  • Lifting, pushing, pulling, or carrying.
• Explosive Strength
  • Jumping, sprinting, or throwing something.
• Gross Body Equilibrium
  • Keeping your balance or staying upright.
• Number Facility
  • Adding, subtracting, multiplying, or dividing.
• Manual Dexterity
  • Holding or moving items with your hands.
• Problem Sensitivity
  • Noticing when problems happen.
• Dynamic Flexibility
  • Quickly and repeatedly bending, stretching, twisting, or reaching out with your body, arms, and/or legs.
• Memorization
  • Remembering words, numbers, pictures, or steps.
• Mathematical Reasoning
  • Choosing the right type of math to solve a problem.
• Night Vision
  • Seeing at night or under low light.
• Time Sharing
  • Doing two or more things at the same time.
• Written Comprehension
  • Reading and understanding what is written.
• Glare Sensitivity
  • Seeing something even if there is a glare or very bright light.
• Extent Flexibility
  • Bending, stretching, twisting, or reaching with your body, arms, and/or legs.
• Information Ordering
  • Ordering or arranging things.
• Category Flexibility
  • Grouping things in different ways.
• Hearing Sensitivity
  • Telling the difference between sounds.
• Selective Attention
  • Paying attention to something without being distracted.
• Visual Color Discrimination
  • Noticing the difference between colors, including shades and brightness.
• Wrist-Finger Speed
  • Making fast, simple, repeated movements of your fingers, hands, and wrists.
• Dynamic Strength
  • Exercising for a long time without your muscles getting tired.
• Auditory Attention
  • Paying attention to one sound while there are other distracting sounds.
• Spatial Orientation
  • Knowing where things are around you.
• Reaction Time
  • Quickly moving your hand, finger, or foot based on a sound, light, picture or other command.
• Trunk Strength
  • Using your lower back and stomach.
• Arm-Hand Steadiness
  • Keeping your arm or hand steady.
• Inductive Reasoning
  • Making general rules or coming up with answers from lots of detailed information.
• Speed of Limb Movement
  • Quickly moving your arms and legs.
• Speed of Closure
  • Quickly knowing what you are looking at.
• Perceptual Speed
  • Quickly comparing groups of letters, numbers, pictures, or other things.
• Originality
  • Creating new and original ideas.
• Near Vision
  • Seeing details up close.
• Control Precision
  • Quickly changing the controls of a machine, car, truck or boat.
• Speech Recognition
  • Recognizing spoken words.
• Stamina
  • Exercising for a long time without getting out of breath.
• Rate Control
  • Changing when and how fast you move based on how something else is moving.
• Visualization
  • Imagining how something will look after it is moved around or changed.
• Deductive Reasoning
  • Using rules to solve problems.
• Written Expression
  • Communicating by writing.
• Peripheral Vision
  • Seeing something to your side when your are looking ahead.
• Far Vision
  • Seeing details that are far away.
• Sound Localization
  • Noticing the direction that a sound came from.
• Response Orientation
  • Quickly deciding if you should move your hand, foot, or other body part.
• Fluency of Ideas
  • Coming up with lots of ideas.
• Oral Comprehension
  • Listening and understanding what people say.
• Speech Clarity
  • Speaking clearly.
• Depth Perception
  • Deciding which thing is closer or farther away from you, or deciding how far away it is from you.
• Finger Dexterity
  • Putting together small parts with your fingers.
• Gross Body Coordination
  • Moving your arms, legs, and mid-section together while your whole body is moving.
• Multilimb Coordination
  • Using your arms and/or legs together while sitting, standing, or lying down.
• Flexibility of Closure
  • Seeing hidden patterns.
• Oral Expression
  • Communicating by speaking.

Knowledge

• Mathematics
  • Knowledge of arithmetic, algebra, geometry, calculus, statistics, and their applications.
• Food Production
  • Knowledge of techniques and equipment for planting, growing, and harvesting food products (both plant and animal) for consumption, including storage/handling techniques.
• Administrative
  • Knowledge of administrative and office procedures and systems such as word processing, managing files and records, stenography and transcription, designing forms, and workplace terminology.
• Computers and Electronics
  • Knowledge of circuit boards, processors, chips, electronic equipment, and computer hardware and software, including applications and programming.
• Building and Construction
  • Knowledge of materials, methods, and the tools involved in the construction or repair of houses, buildings, or other structures such as highways and roads.
• Education and Training
  • Knowledge of principles and methods for curriculum and training design, teaching and instruction for individuals and groups, and the measurement of training effects.
• Mechanical
  • Knowledge of machines and tools, including their designs, uses, repair, and maintenance.
• Production and Processing
  • Knowledge of raw materials, production processes, quality control, costs, and other techniques for maximizing the effective manufacture and distribution of goods.
• Medicine and Dentistry
  • Knowledge of the information and techniques needed to diagnose and treat human injuries, diseases, and deformities. This includes symptoms, treatment alternatives, drug properties and interactions, and preventive health-care measures.
• Public Safety and Security
  • Knowledge of relevant equipment, policies, procedures, and strategies to promote effective local, state, or national security operations for the protection of people, data, property, and institutions.
• Sociology and Anthropology
  • Knowledge of group behavior and dynamics, societal trends and influences, human migrations, ethnicity, cultures, and their history and origins.
• Sales and Marketing
  • Knowledge of principles and methods for showing, promoting, and selling products or services. This includes marketing strategy and tactics, product demonstration, sales techniques, and sales control systems.
• Fine Arts
  • Knowledge of the theory and techniques required to compose, produce, and perform works of music, dance, visual arts, drama, and sculpture.
• Chemistry
  • Knowledge of the chemical composition, structure, and properties of substances and of the chemical processes and transformations that they undergo. This includes uses of chemicals and their interactions, danger signs, production techniques, and disposal methods.
• Law and Government
  • Knowledge of laws, legal codes, court procedures, precedents, government regulations, executive orders, agency rules, and the democratic political process.
• Telecommunications
  • Knowledge of transmission, broadcasting, switching, control, and operation of telecommunications systems.
• Economics and Accounting
  • Knowledge of economic and accounting principles and practices, the financial markets, banking, and the analysis and reporting of financial data.
• Philosophy and Theology
  • Knowledge of different philosophical systems and religions. This includes their basic principles, values, ethics, ways of thinking, customs, practices, and their impact on human culture.
• Physics
  • Knowledge and prediction of physical principles, laws, their interrelationships, and applications to understanding fluid, material, and atmospheric dynamics, and mechanical, electrical, atomic and sub-atomic structures and processes.
• Biology
  • Knowledge of plant and animal organisms, their tissues, cells, functions, interdependencies, and interactions with each other and the environment.
• Psychology
  • Knowledge of human behavior and performance; individual differences in ability, personality, and interests; learning and motivation; psychological research methods; and the assessment and treatment of behavioral and affective disorders.
• Transportation
  • Knowledge of principles and methods for moving people or goods by air, rail, sea, or road, including the relative costs and benefits.
• Administration and Management
  • Knowledge of business and management principles involved in strategic planning, resource allocation, human resources modeling, leadership technique, production methods, and coordination of people and resources.
• Customer and Personal Service
  • Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.
• Engineering and Technology
  • Knowledge of the practical application of engineering science and technology. This includes applying principles, techniques, procedures, and equipment to the design and production of various goods and services.
• Therapy and Counseling
  • Knowledge of principles, methods, and procedures for diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation of physical and mental dysfunctions, and for career counseling and guidance.
• Communications and Media
  • Knowledge of media production, communication, and dissemination techniques and methods. This includes alternative ways to inform and entertain via written, oral, and visual media.
• English Language
  • Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.
• Geography
  • Knowledge of principles and methods for describing the features of land, sea, and air masses, including their physical characteristics, locations, interrelationships, and distribution of plant, animal, and human life.
• Design
  • Knowledge of design techniques, tools, and principles involved in production of precision technical plans, blueprints, drawings, and models.
• History and Archeology
  • Knowledge of historical events and their causes, indicators, and effects on civilizations and cultures.
• Foreign Language
  • Knowledge of the structure and content of a foreign (non-English) language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition and grammar, and pronunciation.
• Personnel and Human Resources
  • Knowledge of principles and procedures for personnel recruitment, selection, training, compensation and benefits, labor relations and negotiation, and personnel information systems.

Education

Education

High school diploma or equivalent

Work Experience

No work experience

Training

Less than 1 month on-the-job training

Education and Training Opportunities

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Education and Training Opportunities

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Pay

U.S. Annual Salary

37370/yr

U.S. Hourly Wage

17.97/hr

Washington Employment Trends

Currently Employed

130

Yearly Projected Openings

20

Personality

Social: People interested in this work like activities that include helping people, teaching, and talking. They do well at jobs that need:

• Cooperation
• Concern for Others
• Dependability
• Adaptability/Flexibility
• Integrity
• Self Control

Tools

• Adaptive communication switches for the physically challenged
• Awls
• Balance beams or boards or bolsters or rockers for rehabilitation or therapy
• Bead accessories
• Braille devices for the physically challenged
• Canes
• Crochet hooks
• Crutches
• Cutlery or utensils for the physically challenged
• Desktop computers
• Domestic sewing machines
• Dressing sticks for the physically challenged
• Gait belts for rehabilitation or therapy
• Hand sewing needles
• Lacing or stringing accessories
• Leather accessories
• Letter or symbol boards for the physically challenged
• Mallets
• Orthopedic splint systems
• Personal computers
• Photocopiers
• Power sanders
• Rasps
• Reachers for the physically challenged
• Rivet tools
• Saws
• Sewing needles
• Special purpose telephones
• Therapeutic balls
• Training ramps for rehabilitation or therapy
• Walkers or rollators
• Weaving accessories
• Weights or sets for rehabilitation or therapy
• Wheelchairs
• Wood chisels

Technology

• Accounting software
• Calendar and scheduling software
• Data base user interface and query software
• Electronic mail software
• Medical software
• Office suite software
• Presentation software
• Spreadsheet software
• Word processing software