Early Intervention for Motor Performance

Earn 1 hour of continuing education by joining OT Potential after taking this course.

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From pregnancy to age 2 is arguably the most important developmental window of our lifetimes. 

This makes the work of OTs who work with this age incredibly important. And, for the rest of us, we should be using our professional knowledge to advocate for the proper support for families at this critically important window.

In this one hour podcast course, we are looking at a broad systematic review about OT motor inventions for children ages 0-5. 

The importance of this paper cuts across multiple practice areas, but we are going to use this paper as a jumping off point to talk about early intervention. We will be joined by Sarah Putt, OTR/L to talk about her EI experience—and more broadly about the opportunities and challenges of early childhood support that we all need to be tuned into.

Primary Journal Article Explored

When you log in, be sure to check out the OT Potential Club’s written breakdown of the following research article. Then, share your questions and thoughts with fellow practitioners.

• Interventions within the scope of occupational therapy practice to improve motor performance for children ages 0–5 years: A systematic review

Supporting Research and Journal Articles

• Caregiver coaching in early intervention: A scoping review
• Timing and intensity of early intervention service use and outcomes among a safety-net population of children

Learning Objectives

• You will be able to identify OT motor inventions for ages 0-5 that have strong evidence.
• You will be able to recognize OT EI motor inventions that have moderate evidence.

Mentioned OT EI Assessments

• Alberta Infant Motor Scale (AIMS)
• Assessment, Evaluation, and Programming System for Infants and Children
• Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development
• Developmental Assessment of Young Children
• The Developmental Profile (DP-4)
• Early Learning Accomplishment Profile – E-LAP
• Hawaii Early Learning Profile (HELP)
• Mullen Scales of Early Learning (MESL)
• Peabody Developmental Motor Scales
• REEL-4: Receptive-Expressive Emergent Language Test
• Sensory Profile

Agenda

Intro (5 minutes)

Breakdown and analysis of journal article (5 minutes)

• Intro to OT motor skills interventions for 0-5 year olds
• What was the intent of this study?
• What were their methods?
• What were their results?
• Discussion/Conclusions/Implications
• Takeaways for OT practitioners

Discussion on practical implications for OTs (with Sarah Putt) (50 minutes)

• Can you tell me how you first found OT?
• What drew you into forming your own EI business?
• How is OT in the EI setting unique?
• Can you tell your specific EI location and how is that different from others?
• What were your initial impressions of this article?
• I’m curious if motor skills is one of the main reasons kids are referred to EI? What does your referral process look like overall?
• The article mentioned multiple assessments, did those seem familiar to you- are there other EI assessments you rely on (motor focused or otherwise?)
• What stood out to you about the different treatments?
• The importance of parent involvement was a big general take-away from the article, can you tell me what that looks like in your practice?
• We see this trend both in the article and the supporting research that as little as an additional hour of therapy per month can lead to better functional outcomes- what are the barriers to achieving this?
• As OTs, we know that  birth to age three is one of the most important windows of opportunities for development—I feel like as a society we have historically under invested in this time period. How can we as a profession support EI?
• How has being a new mom changed how you aspire to show up as an EI therapist?

Target Audience/Educational Level

Our target audience is occupational therapy practitioners who are looking to learn about Early Intervention for Motor Performance.  The educational level is introductory.

Financial and Non-financial Disclosures

It is the policy of OT Potential to disclose any financial and non-financial interest the provider or instructor may have in a product or service mentioned during an activity. This is to ensure that the audience is made aware of any bias of the speaker.

We here at OT Potential have no financial stake in this topic.  Our guest, Sarah Putt also has no financial disclosures. 

Speakers

Sarah Putt, OTR/L:

Sarah Putt is a licensed and certified occupational therapist. With over 13 years of experience in early intervention, she is the founder and clinical director of Sarah Bryan Therapy in Los Angeles, California. Her company specializes in therapy interventions in the home environment and typically works with children from birth to 3 years of age. 

Sarah is also the host and creator of OT 4 Lyfe, a podcast and website dedicated to sharing her  passion for the field of occupational therapy with other practitioners and anyone interested in the field of occupational therapy. She is also the cohost of two other occupational therapy podcasts, The OT Roundtable and The Real OTs of Early Intervention. Sarah loves talking about all things OT, podcasting, and early intervention. Read full bio.

Sarah Lyon, OTR/L:

Sarah’s passion is helping fellow OT practitioners translate evidence into daily practice. Sarah earned her BA in religion from St. Olaf College, then earned her master’s degree in occupational therapy from New York University in 2011. Since then, she’s worked in numerous facilities, including a critical access hospital, an acute trauma hospital, and a state inpatient psychiatric hospital.

Sarah is the founder/owner of OT Potential. Read more about OT Potential here.

This course was designed to meet your continuing education requirements

We designed the courses in the Club to meet the requirements for “online” and “independent/self-study” courses. To verify the requirements from your specific state (within the US), check out our post, OT Continuing Education Requirements. If you are outside of the United States and have questions, please contact us.

We are proud to be an AOTA Approved Provider and to meet the requirements for your NBCOT renewal.

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