Browsing by Subject "early childhood"

Now showing 1 - 4 of 4
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    Addressing Early Childhood Accessibility at a Children’s Museum: A Community-Based Capstone Project
    (2024-04-29) Sharlow, Teri; Van Antwerp, Leah; Department of Occupational Therapy, School of Health and Human Sciences; Handel, Elyse
    The occupation of play is vital in early childhood for the development of crucial life skills including motor, social, emotional, language, and executive functioning. Young children with disabilities often face challenges and barriers to participation in play, especially when visiting a community facility like a children’s museum. The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis (TCM) has an ongoing commitment to provide accessible and inclusive facilities and experiences for their guests, yet recognizes that there are many opportunities for growth within their accessibility programming. The aim of this capstone project was to contribute to TCM’s accessibility programming through the assessment of an exhibit that had not yet been addressed in depth by their accessibility team. Using information gathered from the assessment and best practices from the literature, the student developed a detailed accessibility report that outlined strategies and guidelines for accessibility improvement within the exhibit. The project was presented to relevant museum staff and distributed throughout the facility so the report can be used as a resource for future accessibility initiatives within the exhibit. To evaluate the effectiveness of the project, attendees of the report presentation took a brief survey and provided feedback to the student. Overall, the results indicated that the project was successful in contributing to the museum’s accessibility programming and that staff members had an increased understanding of accessibility principles and how they can be applied within exhibits in future projects.
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    Developing the Role of Occupational Therapy to Address the Effects of Early Childhood Trauma: A Community Capacity Building Approach
    (2022-05-03) Nycz, Kimberly E.; Petrenchik, Terry; Department of Occupational Therapy, School of Health and Human Sciences; Carter, Patricia
    Research supports early childhood trauma significantly impacts a child’s development and growth into a successful adult. As childhood trauma continues to be a public health issue in Missouri, community organizations need ways to improve and expand their trauma-informed and trauma-specific services to the children and families across the state. One way to address this is through implementation of an educational program. This program aimed to develop the role of occupational therapy within these sites to integrate the ideas of occupational therapy and trauma-informed care to improve and expand the sites’ services and promote the development of trauma-exposed young children. A series of three trainings were created, with each one focusing on a different topic to enhance the occupational therapy and trauma-informed knowledge of the participants. Two separate sites, one with 5 participants and one with 4 participants, were provided the trainings. Data was collected using pre- and post-surveys prior to and after each training and through retrospective interviews to evaluate effectiveness of each training, assess participant satisfaction, and to further inform the project impact. Based on the participants post-survey responses, results show a positive trend in the participants’ confidence and understanding of the training topics. The results indicate the training program was effective in improving the participants’ understanding and ability to implement more occupation-based interventions with trauma-exposed young children. This study supports the continued role of occupational therapists collaborating with community organizations to provide education on occupational therapy and trauma-informed topics to reduce the effects of trauma on young children.
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    Enhancing Student Occupational Performance: How Physical Activity and Sensory Systems Intertwine in an Early Childhood Setting
    (2025) Notter, Hope; Belkiewitz, Johnna; Department of Occupational Therapy, School of Health and Human Sciences; Miller, Erin
    Physical activity (PA) is not only essential for supporting health and well-being, but for stimulating the sensory systems. The underutilization of sensory systems, particularly the vestibular system, has increased due to the rise in sedentary behaviors among children and adolescents. Schools are uniquely positioned as an ideal setting to promote PA and the establishment of healthy routines. Doing so within the early childhood timeframe has shown to be especially crucial, with impacts lasting into adult life. However, school personnel have expressed that the role of Occupational Therapy (OT) is unclear, impacting interprofessional collaboration and ultimately, students—specifically regarding PA-induced sensory stimulation and corresponding classroom accommodations. Furthermore, caregiver involvement and modeling are needed for continued carryover of these activities at home. This Doctoral Capstone Experience (DCE) aimed to address these concerns by implementing the Minds-In-Motion (MIM) program in an early childhood setting to enhance student occupational performance through PA-induced sensory stimulation. Additionally, this DCE provided training for teachers to increase their understanding of the role of Occupational Therapy (OT) in the school environment and strategies to integrate PA into the daily routines of their students. A caregiver resource was also developed to promote skill carryover at home. Results from pre- and post-surveys demonstrated improvements in students’ social-emotional behavior, motor movement and strength, visual tracking, and auditory processing skills as well as school personnel’s knowledge and confidence levels. Findings reinforce the essentiality of PA in supporting early childhood development, the value of OT in school-based settings, and caregiver modeling.
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    The Relationship among Caregiver Depressive Symptoms, Parenting Behavior, and Familycenter Care All
    (Elsevier, 2016-03) Davis, Deborah Winders; Myers, John; Logsdon, M. Cynthia; Bauer, Nerissa S.; Department of Pediatrics, IU School of Medicine
    Background Parental depression has been associated with adverse child outcomes. However, the specific parenting behaviors that may result in such child outcomes and the effect of family-centered care (FCC) on positive parenting behavior of depressed parents has not previously been examined. Methods Data from the National Survey of Early Childhood Health was used (n = 2,068). Groups were stratified by the presence of parental depression and compared with regard to demographics and the mean number of specific positive parenting behaviors. Generalized linear models were developed based on testing whether individuals performed more or less than the median number of positive behaviors. Lastly, we tested whether depression independently predicted each outcome after adjustment for FCC, coping, social support, and ethnicity to evaluate if depression independently predicted each outcome after adjustment. Results No difference was found in demographic variables between parents who were depressed and not depressed. Parents who were not depressed performed significantly more routines (p = .036); reported coping better with parenting (p < .001); performed significantly less punitive behaviors (p = .022); and needed/had less social support (p = .002) compared with parents who were depressed. Individual items and scale scores were associated in the expected directions. FCC was independently associated with study variables but did not moderate the effect of depression. Conclusions These data identify specific parenting behaviors that differ between parents who report depressive symptoms compared with parents who do not have depressive symptoms. More targeted interventions coordinated through a medical home are needed for parents with depressive symptoms to reduce the child health disparities often associated with parental depression.