This manual is designed to be used independently by students in secondary health occupations programs or by individuals receiving on-the-job training in a physical therapy department or clinic. A clinical site is needed for individuals to practice physical therapist aide skills and demonstrate mastery of those skills. A glossary appears first. The manual is divided into seven units: explore the field of physical therapy; basic patient care; patient mobility; assisting with treatment; range of motion exercise and ambulation; maintaining treatment areas; and office communication. Units are divided into from one to three lessons, which contain the following: lesson objectives, key terms, content information, illustrations, activity sheets, and clinical/laboratory activity sheets as appropriate for the content. Activity sheets are designed to assist the learner in mastering the information in each lesson. The clinical/laboratory activity sheets should be reviewed or discussed with the instructor or clinical supervisor upon completion. A unit checklist at the end of each unit provides a method for keeping track of activity sheets, clinical/laboratory activity sheets, skill sheets, and written unit evaluations to be completed in the unit. The written unit evaluations that should be taken after all lessons in a unit are studied and skill sheets are included at the end of the manual. A separate instructor's key provides answers to activity sheets and unit evaluations. A competency record for evaluating student achievement of each competency is provided. (YLB)