Online PTA information sessions are offered approximately once a month during the quarter and are listed on the PTA homepage.
The PTA program begins one cohort a year annually in Fall quarter.
Application information is available on the PTA homepage.
Check the Physical Therapist Assistant homepage for deadline information.
See Estimated PTA Program Costs.
The program is a full-time, daytime program with both morning and afternoon courses held Monday - Friday. Clinical affiliation courses require 40 hour/week rotations off-campus in community facilities.
Lecture and laboratory courses are held on the Kirkland campus of Lake Washington Institute of Technology. Clinical affiliations occur in a variety of off-campus settings and can range from Tacoma to Bellingham. Students are expected to provide their own reliable transportation to attend clinical affiliations and other off-campus experiences.
Physical Therapist Assistants (PTAs), provide physical therapy treatments under the direction and supervision of a licensed physical therapist (PT). PTAs help people of all ages who have health-related conditions which limit their ability to move and perform functional activities in daily life. You can learn more by checking out the Career Path for Physical Therapist Assistants.
The PTA program prepares students to provide entry-level, skilled patient care in a variety of settings. Some of these settings may include hospitals, rehabilitation centers, long-term care facilities, outpatient clinics, sports medicine clinics, and school-based systems. You can learn more by checking out the Career Path for Physical Therapist Assistants.
The PTA program teaches students how to provide physical therapy treatment interventions and associated data collection skills under the direction and supervision of a licensed physical therapist.
The PTA program teaches physical therapy treatments for patients with problems of the musculoskeletal (bones, muscles, ligaments), neurologic (nerves, brain, spinal cord), cardiac (heart), pulmonary (lungs), and/or integumentary (skin) systems.
The PTA program also teaches skills which support physical therapy treatments and a career as a physical therapist assistant including:
All programs at LWTech aim to provide students with workplace skills that include Communication, Critical Thinking, Intercultural Appreciation, Teamwork, and Technical and Information Literacy. Each program includes coursework which teaches and assesses student performance in these global outcomes.
Not directly. PTA programs are not designed to prepare individuals to continue directly into a degree as a Physical Therapist (PT). PT programs are graduate (doctoral) level programs which require a Bachelor's degree and multiple prerequisites to apply. The American Physical Therapy Association has resources which can help you explore different careers in the field of physical therapy (American Physical Therapy Association) and (PTA to PT: A Career Change).
Graduates of the LWTech PTA program are eligible to take the National Physical Therapy Exam (NPTE) for the Physical Therapist Assistant and to apply for state licensure. Licensure is required in the state of Washington and in most states in the United States.
To be eligible for employment, graduates must also take and pass the National Physical Therapy Exam (NPTE).
Business Hours
Mon-Fri, 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Campus Hours
Mon-Thurs, 6 a.m. to 10 p.m.
Friday, Closed to the public
Sat-Sun, Closed
Lake Washington Institute of Technology (LWTech) is committed to providing access to information for all, therefore we are taking the following measures to ensure accessibility of the college’s public facing website (LWTech.edu), and third-party platforms utilized by students, staff, and community members.
The college is currently conducting an audit to determine the extent to which its website and third-party platforms are compliant.