Pediatric physical therapist vs therapist

The differences between pediatric physical therapists and therapists can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. Additionally, a pediatric physical therapist has an average salary of $75,699, which is higher than the $55,943 average annual salary of a therapist.

The top three skills for a pediatric physical therapist include patients, patient care and rehabilitation. The most important skills for a therapist are social work, patients, and group therapy sessions.

Pediatric physical therapist vs therapist overview

	Pediatric Physical Therapist	Therapist
Yearly salary	$75,699	$55,943
Hourly rate	$36.39	$26.90
Growth rate	17%	17%
Number of jobs	98,862	159,770
Job satisfaction	-	5
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 53%	Bachelor's Degree, 47%
Average age	41	41
Years of experience	-	-

What does a pediatric physical therapist do?

Pediatric physical therapists are specialized in improving the lives as well as the everyday tasks of children who suffer from a vast range of injuries and congenital disorders. Their primary duty is to aid the child and their family to help each child to reach their optimum potential to work independently and to encourage active engagement at home, in school, as well as in the community. Other responsibilities include assessing and providing treatment for impediments in motor skills as well as evaluating the child's strength, posture, flexibility, pace, coordination, balance, and sensory processing. Additionally, they are trained to examine the motor progress using specification testing for age equivalents.

What does a therapist do?

A therapist is responsible for improving the patients' health conditions by evaluating their needs and providing physical and mental support. Therapists are licensed, medical professionals who specialize in different areas to perform treatments and bring relief to patients. Some of their duties include diagnosing patient's problems, performing counseling services, monitoring medication progress, customizing therapy activities for pain management, and consulting other health professionals as needed. Therapists must have extensive knowledge with the medical industry to detect patients' conditions easily and provide effective medications.

Pediatric physical therapist vs therapist salary

Pediatric physical therapists and therapists have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Pediatric Physical Therapist	Therapist
Average salary	$75,699	$55,943
Salary range	Between $55,000 And $103,000	Between $39,000 And $80,000
Highest paying City	Lynnwood, WA	San Francisco, CA
Highest paying state	Washington	California
Best paying company	Tenet Healthcare	Childhelp
Best paying industry	Professional	Government

Differences between pediatric physical therapist and therapist education

There are a few differences between a pediatric physical therapist and a therapist in terms of educational background:

	Pediatric Physical Therapist	Therapist
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 53%	Bachelor's Degree, 47%
Most common major	Physical Therapy	Psychology
Most common college	Duke University	California State University - Long Beach

Pediatric physical therapist vs therapist demographics

Here are the differences between pediatric physical therapists' and therapists' demographics:

	Pediatric Physical Therapist	Therapist
Average age	41	41
Gender ratio	Male, 14.4% Female, 85.6%	Male, 24.4% Female, 75.6%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 3.7% Unknown, 3.7% Hispanic or Latino, 7.5% Asian, 11.4% White, 73.2% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.5%	Black or African American, 4.0% Unknown, 3.8% Hispanic or Latino, 7.9% Asian, 11.3% White, 72.6% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.5%
LGBT Percentage	12%	12%

Differences between pediatric physical therapist and therapist duties and responsibilities

Pediatric physical therapist example responsibilities.

Achieve high level of patients satisfaction due to sound clinical management, quality of care and compassion.
Experience in administering modalities including: NMES, IFC, iontophoresis, ultrasound, and cervical traction.
Evaluate and write letters of necessity to obtain adaptive equipment including: mobility devices, adaptive seating device and positioning devices.
Start OT career at Eisenhower as regular staff OTR; continue to work often as long-term/temporary OTR.
Evaluate patients in medical and surgical ICU and provide ROM and ambulation exercises and prepare them for the discharge.
Educate patients on performing daily living activities and the use of supportive equipment such as crutches, wheelchairs and canes.

Therapist example responsibilities.

Manage ventilator and BiPAP's and create or update care plans per patient needs.
Demonstrate working knowledge of community mental health services identify in the Medicaid guidelines and attain contractual outcomes within designate time frames.
Provide on-call crisis intervention as well as standard treatment, rehabilitation and support services with some interventions requiring specialize therapy services.
Develop and implement an effective curriculum of DBT inform group and art therapy classes specifically tailor for chemically dependent patients.
Provide trauma-inform individual psychotherapy, TREM group treatment protocol, and EMDR.
Utilize current brain base therapeutic techniques to teach clients adaptive skills to utilize in daily lives.

Pediatric physical therapist vs therapist skills

Common pediatric physical therapist skills

Patients, 25%
Patient Care, 12%
Rehabilitation, 9%
Autism, 6%
Home Health, 6%
Physical Therapy, 4%

Common therapist skills

Social Work, 23%
Patients, 12%
Group Therapy Sessions, 8%
Crisis Intervention, 7%
Mental Health, 4%
Patient Care, 3%

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Pediatric Physical Therapist
Pediatric Physical Therapist vs Therapist

Updated January 8, 2025

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