Physical therapy
Physical therapy helps children and adults move through daily life with greater access, comfort, safety, and independence.
The short version
PT is about meaningful movement—not making every body move in one “normal” way.
What a PT may help with
- Gross-motor development, balance, coordination, and motor planning
- Walking, running, stairs, playground access, and community mobility
- Strength, endurance, flexibility, pain, and recovery from injury or surgery
- Transfers, positioning, wheelchair mobility, and fall prevention
- Cerebral palsy, spina bifida, muscular disorders, genetic conditions, and other neuromotor needs
- Orthotics, mobility equipment, and collaboration on seating
- Adaptive sports and participation in family, school, and community life
- Caregiver coaching and realistic home strategies
Not every pediatric PT is an expert in every diagnosis, body system, age, or piece of equipment.
What it may look like
A pediatric session may use floor play, climbing, stairs, balance games, a treadmill, a bike, strengthening, stretching, walking practice, transfers, or equipment trials. The activities should connect to a goal the child and family actually value.
The therapist may build a skill, adapt the environment, recommend equipment, reduce pain, protect joints, or help the child find a more efficient way to participate. Progress is not limited to reaching a developmental milestone on a standard timeline.
Good-fit signs
- Goals reflect what the child or family wants to do.
- The therapist explains the purpose of an exercise in plain language.
- Mobility aids and adaptations are treated as tools for access, not as giving up.
- The child’s communication, pain, fatigue, and refusal are taken seriously.
- Home ideas fit family life rather than becoming another impossible assignment.
- The therapist collaborates with OT, orthotics, physicians, schools, and equipment specialists when needed.
Education and basic credentials
New physical therapists in the United States complete a professional Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT) degree, clinical education, a national examination, and state licensure. Experienced PTs may have entered under earlier bachelor’s- or master’s-level requirements; degree letters alone do not tell you how well someone fits your child’s needs.
A PTA is a licensed physical therapist assistant who provides care under a PT’s direction and supervision. The PT performs and interprets the evaluation, establishes the plan of care, and decides when reevaluation or a change in plan is needed.
Pediatric specialization
- PCS: A Pediatric Clinical Specialist is a PT who earned advanced board certification through the American Board of Physical Therapy Specialties. It is meaningful evidence of pediatric expertise, but it is not required to be an excellent pediatric PT.
- A pediatric residency or long-term mentorship can also provide focused experience. Ask what the therapist actually treats most often.
Neuromotor care
- C/NDT: Neuro-Developmental Treatment certification is available to eligible PTs, OTs, and SLPs after an intensive certificate course. It may be relevant for cerebral palsy and other neuromotor conditions.
- Training in gait analysis, serial casting, orthotics, wheelchair mobility, or specific diagnoses may be highly relevant even when it does not create a new credential after the therapist’s name.
Equipment and adaptive access
- ATP: RESNA’s Assistive Technology Professional credential reflects broad competence in matching people with assistive technology. It does not replace a PT license or guarantee expertise with every device.
- SMS: RESNA’s Seating and Mobility Specialist credential is more specifically focused on seating, positioning, and mobility technology.
License: The state’s legal permission to practice a profession. Verify that it is current.
National professional credential: A credential such as CCC-SLP, OTR, or BCBA showing that national education, examination, and other requirements were met. State licensure may still be required.
Advanced specialty credential: Usually requires experience, additional study, and an assessment of specialty knowledge or skill. Examples include BCP, PCS, BCS-CL, BCS-S, RPT, and ATP.
Method-specific certification: Shows that the clinician completed one organization’s competency process for one approach, such as LAMP Certified, PROMPT Certified, Certified PCIT Therapist, or Certified CO-OP Therapist.
Course or certificate of completion: Shows that someone completed training. It can be valuable, but it is not the same as a license, board specialty, or demonstrated certification. Ask what level they completed, whether their skills were observed, and how often they use the approach.
Assistant or technician credential: SLPAs, COTAs/OTAs, PTAs, BCaBAs, RBTs, interns, and temporary licensees may provide excellent care, but their supervision and decision-making responsibilities differ. The family should know who evaluates, writes the plan, changes goals, and supervises treatment.
The useful question is not “How many certificates do you have?” It is “How does your training help you understand and support my child?”
PTs evaluate and diagnose movement-system and functional problems within physical therapy scope. They can identify impairments, activity limitations, safety concerns, equipment needs, and movement patterns; determine whether PT is appropriate; and refer when findings suggest a medical issue outside their expertise.
A PT license alone does not make someone the diagnosing clinician for autism, ADHD, dyslexia, or an underlying medical or genetic condition. A PT may recognize developmental signs, document functional needs, contribute to an interdisciplinary evaluation, and begin appropriate movement-focused care when allowed by the setting and payer.
Questions to ask a PT
- Do you regularly work with this age, diagnosis, and movement need?
- What daily activity or participation goal will therapy support?
- How will you protect comfort, autonomy, joints, and energy—not just pursue a milestone?
- Who will provide treatment, and how is a PTA supervised?
- What equipment, orthotics, or other specialists might be helpful?
- How will progress be measured if the goal is access, safety, endurance, or reduced pain?
- What should we practice at home, and what is optional?
Scope and licensing rules can change. These guides were researched for Tennessee in September 2026; always verify a provider’s current license and ask whether they regularly treat your child’s specific need.
- APTA Scope of Practice: https://www.apta.org/your-practice/scope-of-practice
- APTA: Becoming a physical therapist: https://www.apta.org/your-career/careers-in-physical-therapy/becoming-a-pt
- APTA: Becoming a physical therapist assistant: https://www.apta.org/your-career/careers-in-physical-therapy/becoming-a-pta
- ChoosePT: Pediatric physical therapy: https://www.choosept.com/why-physical-therapy/specialty-areas-physical-therapy/pediatric-physical-therapy
- ABPTS Pediatric Clinical Specialist: https://specialization.apta.org/become-a-specialist/pediatrics
- Tennessee Board of Physical Therapy: https://www.tn.gov/health/licensure/pt.html
- NDTA certification: https://www.ndta.org/site/NDT-Certification
- RESNA ATP: https://www.resna.org/certification/atp
- RESNA SMS: https://www.resna.org/certification/seating-mobility-specialist-sms