Browsing by Subject "early intervention"

Now showing 1 - 5 of 5
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    Best Practices for Visual Processing Deficits in Early Intervention Identified Through Advancement of Clinical Skills and Dissemination of Information
    (2025) Brubaker, Zoe; Belkiewitz, Johhna; Department of Occupational Therapy, School of Health and Human Sciences; Daniel , Jessica
    Vision plays a critical role in a child’s learning and engagement with their environment, daily activities, and play. Occupational therapists contribute to visual processing in early intervention by addressing sensory processing through education, intervention, and collaboration. Research has shown that children with visual processing difficulties often experience developmental delays that affect their occupational performance. Barriers to identifying these difficulties include a lack of parental education on vision-specific skills and limited occupational therapy training on visual processing conditions, symptoms, treatment options, and referral processes. This capstone project involved collaboration with two sites to connect the expertise of teachers of blind and low-vision students with occupational therapy outreach in Indianapolis. The project aimed to educate caregivers and providers on visual processing in early intervention and foster relationships between organizations for improved collaboration. Results indicate that mentors were satisfied with the implemented handouts and recognized the value of making these resources accessible within the site’s virtual platform.
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    Empowering Families: The Role of Provider Coaching in Indiana Early Intervention
    (2025-05) Murtiff, Samantha; Belkiewitz, Johnna; Department of Occupational Therapy, School of Health and Human Sciences; Young, Constance; Faust, Leann
    In 2022, Indiana’s early intervention program, First Steps, provided services to over 27,000 children ages 0-3. Throughout a comprehensive needs assessment, First Steps identified a need for more culturally inclusive educational materials to ensure early intervention therapists are providing culturally appropriate care. The goal of this capstone project was to provide education to early intervention providers regarding cultural humility in home visiting. This project consisted of a cultural presentation informing providers about typical household routines in Haitian, Burmese, and Latino/Hispanic cultures, as well as the creation of several cultural handouts. A pre- and post-survey approach was used to gather data regarding provider comfort, confidence, and use of Family Guided Routines Based Intervention (FGRBI) in early intervention home visits. Quantitative results of these surveys found that providers reported increases in all the previously mentioned categories. Many providers also provided qualitative evidence of increased knowledge due to the cultural presentation and handouts.
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    Essential Components of Early Intervention Programs for Psychosis: Available Intervention Services in the United States
    (Elsevier, 2015-10) White, Dominique A.; Luther, Lauren; Bonfils, Kelsey A.; Salyers, Michelle P.; Department of Psychology, School of Science
    Programs providing interventions for early psychosis are becoming commonplace in the United States (U.S.); however, the characteristics of existing services remain undocumented. We examined program characteristics, clinical services, and program eligibility criteria for outpatient early intervention programs across the U.S. using a semi-structured telephone interview. Content analysis was used to identify the presence or absence of program components, based in part on a recent list of essential evidence-based components recommended for early intervention programs (Addington, MacKenzie, Norman, Wang and Bond, 2013) as well as program characteristics, including eligibility criteria. A total of 34 eligible programs were identified; 31 (91.2%) program representatives agreed to be interviewed. Of the examined components, the most prevalent were individual psychoeducation and outcomes tracking; the least prevalent were outreach services and communication with inpatient units. The populations served by US programs were most frequently defined by restrictions on the duration of psychosis and age. This study provides critical feedback on services for the early psychosis population and identifies research to practice gaps and areas for future improvement.
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    The Impact of a Sensory-Based Parent Coaching Program on the Occupational Performance of Toddlers with Developmental Disabilities
    (2021) Stoll, Hannah B.; Zeigler, Jayson; Department of Occupational Therapy, School of Health and Human Sciences; Dehoff, Abby
    Sensory processing challenges are common in children ages 0 to 3 receiving early intervention services and interfere with the occupational performance of children during family mealtimes, playtimes, self-care activities, and community outings. This program utilized 9 to 10 in-home parent coaching sessions to implement sensory strategies addressing parent identified occupational performance problems with 6 families. Pre- and post-test results indicated a significant improvement in parent ratings of child performance and parent satisfaction following the parent coaching program. This study adds to the growing body of evidence supporting the use of parent coaching strategies when working with pediatric populations and specifically demonstrates the potential value of the coaching model in implementing sensory strategies.
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    Improving Family Engagement, Cultural Competence, and Socioeconomic Awareness in First Steps Provider Training
    (2021) Cousins, Kaela T. O.; Chase, Tony; Department of Occupational Therapy, School of Health and Human Sciences; Young, Constance V.
    To effectively demonstrate equity within the practice of early intervention, providers must feel that they are supported and equipped with family-centered and evidence-based strategies encouraged by their early intervention programs, such as First Steps. First Steps is the statewide early intervention program from the Division of Disability and Rehabilitative Services for Indiana. To perform best practice and encourage positive child outcomes, early intervention providers should continuously apply family engagement, cultural competence, and socioeconomic awareness throughout their work. Although the importance of these aspects is emphasized in various core values and principles, it can be a challenge to apply them due to ambiguity of these terms, lack of professional development on these topics, and the tendency to solely focus on the child. To address these challenges, this capstone will aim to reduce the ambiguity of these terms, to provide training for First Steps providers on these topics, and to better understand the perspectives of different families on how to strengthen these domains within First Steps. The overall purpose of this capstone is to conduct virtual focus groups with families of First Steps and to use their feedback with evidence-based principles to create a professional development course for First Steps providers. Thus, this capstone will aim to practice inclusion of family voices within the professional development course on family engagement, cultural competence, and socioeconomic awareness to promote First Steps providers in producing more positive child outcomes.