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Speech-Language Pathology Assistants vs Occupational Therapy Aides

Side-by-side · O*NET · BLS · AI-exposure research · Anthropic Economic Index

A factual, source-backed comparison of Speech-Language Pathology Assistants and Occupational Therapy Aides on the dimensions both occupations carry. Every figure is a position within an independent published dataset — not a verdict on which job is better, safer, or more “future-proof.”

Speech-Language Pathology Assistants Occupational Therapy Aides
Median pay · BLS OEWS
$46,050
$37,370
Employment · BLS OEWS
103,650
5,000
AI exposure (percentile) · task overlap, not automation
12th pct
9th pct

At a glance

Dimension Speech-Language Pathology Assistants Occupational Therapy Aides
Median pay $46,050 $37,370
Employment 103,650 5,000
Employment outlook (2024–34) · BLS projection About average (+3.5%) About average (+2.5%)
Annual openings · BLS projection 14,400 600
Typical education · O*NET Most occupations in this zone require training in vocational schools, related on-the-job experience, or an associate's degree. Most occupations in this zone require training in vocational schools, related on-the-job experience, or an associate's degree.
AI exposure · published exposure studies Low · 12th pct Low · 9th pct
Global GenAI gradient · ILO ISCO-08 · via crosswalk 43rd pct · 23% of tasks 18th pct · 15% of tasks
Observed AI use · Anthropic Economic Index — Augmentation-leaning (60.8%)
Mostly remote-capable · Dingel–Neiman Yes No

Pay and employment are BLS OEWS estimates; outlook and openings are BLS 2024–2034 projections; AI exposure and observed-use figures come from separate research and reflect exposure and usage, not predictions that either job will disappear. Compare like with like.

Skills

Shared: English Language, Education and Training, Active Listening, Oral Comprehension, Oral Expression, Speech Recognition, Speech Clarity, Written Comprehension, Written Expression, Reading Comprehension, Speaking, Therapy and Counseling, Problem Sensitivity, Information Ordering, Psychology, Social Perceptiveness, Deductive Reasoning, Inductive Reasoning, Near Vision, Monitoring, Service Orientation, Customer and Personal Service, Administrative, Complex Problem Solving, Writing, Critical Thinking, Active Learning, Judgment and Decision Making, Learning Strategies, Instructing, Coordination, Time Management, Category Flexibility, Computers and Electronics.

Specific to Speech-Language Pathology Assistants

  • Hearing Sensitivity
  • Fluency of Ideas
  • Originality
  • Time Sharing
  • Auditory Attention
  • Flexibility of Closure

Specific to Occupational Therapy Aides

  • Medicine and Dentistry
  • Public Safety and Security
  • Finger Dexterity
  • Trunk Strength
  • Persuasion
  • Arm-Hand Steadiness

Knowledge, skills & abilities O*NET rates as important for each occupation. “Shared” are common to both; the columns list what is distinctive to each (top by the order O*NET surfaces).

Tools & technology

Shared: Spreadsheet software , Office suite software , Word processing software , Medical software , Electronic mail software .

Specific to Speech-Language Pathology Assistants

Specific to Occupational Therapy Aides

Full profiles

This page is a summary. See the complete source-backed profile for Speech-Language Pathology Assistants or Occupational Therapy Aides — tasks, the full skill graph, tools, work context, preparation, wages by percentile, industries, AI exposure and the AI work map.

More comparisons

Related occupations you can place side by side on the same sourced scale.

Sources for this page

Every figure above traces to a named public dataset and the exact release below — not hand-written opinion. See the full methodology for what each measure does and does not mean.

Data compiled June 2, 2026. Figures are estimates, not advice.

Cite this page
Plain

Singulariki. "Speech-Language Pathology Assistants vs Occupational Therapy Aides." Singulariki: a source-backed encyclopedia of work. Built from O*NET 30.3; BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) May 2024; BLS Employment Projections 2024–2034; Anthropic Economic Index v4 (2026-01-15) + v2 (2025-03-27); Microsoft “Working with AI” working-with-ai; “GPTs are GPTs” (Eloundou et al.) arXiv 2303.10130; AI Occupational Exposure (AIOE) Felten, Raj & Seamans; ILO / Gmyrek et al. GenAI exposure gradient 2025; IBS O*NET-SOC ↔ ISCO-08 occupation crosswalk 2022; Frey & Osborne (2013) frey-osborne-automation; Dingel & Neiman (2020) dingel-neiman-workathome. Accessed June 7, 2026. https://singulariki.com/compare/speech-language-pathology-assistants-vs-occupational-therapy-aides

APA

Singulariki. (2026). Speech-Language Pathology Assistants vs Occupational Therapy Aides. Singulariki: a source-backed encyclopedia of work. Retrieved June 7, 2026, from https://singulariki.com/compare/speech-language-pathology-assistants-vs-occupational-therapy-aides

BibTeX 
@misc{singulariki-speech-language-pathology-assistants-vs-occupational-therapy-aides,
  title  = {Speech-Language Pathology Assistants vs Occupational Therapy Aides},
  author = {{Singulariki}},
  year   = {2026},
  note   = {O*NET 30.3; BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) May 2024; BLS Employment Projections 2024–2034; Anthropic Economic Index v4 (2026-01-15) + v2 (2025-03-27); Microsoft “Working with AI” working-with-ai; “GPTs are GPTs” (Eloundou et al.) arXiv 2303.10130; AI Occupational Exposure (AIOE) Felten, Raj & Seamans; ILO / Gmyrek et al. GenAI exposure gradient 2025; IBS O*NET-SOC ↔ ISCO-08 occupation crosswalk 2022; Frey & Osborne (2013) frey-osborne-automation; Dingel & Neiman (2020) dingel-neiman-workathome. Accessed June 7, 2026},
  url    = {https://singulariki.com/compare/speech-language-pathology-assistants-vs-occupational-therapy-aides}
}

Citations name the underlying public dataset releases — they reflect what this page is built from, not just the URL.