Supporting the Occupational Roles of Infants

Current directions in occupational therapy practice

ONLINE (Over 4 sessions)

Fridays – 31^st May & 7^th, 14^th and 21^st June 2024

Group A – 9:00am – 10:30am (Aust EST) 

Brisbane/Sydney/Canberra/Melbourne/Hobart – 9:00am – 10:30am (AustEST) – Adelaide/Darwin – 8:30am – 10:00am (AustCST)   Perth – 7:00am – 8:30am (AustWST)

Group B – 11:00am – 12:30pm (Aust EST) 

Brisbane/Sydney/Canberra/Melbourne/Hobart – 11:00am – 12:30pm (AustEST) – Adelaide/Darwin – 10:30am – 12 noon (AustCST)   Perth – 9:00am – 10:30am (AustWST)

** Please note these will be the only 2024 dates for this workshop **

Infancy (birth to 18 months) describes a period of rapid development in all areas of infant development including systems regulation, motor control, play and cognition and social interaction. During this period infants master many foundation skills required to make sense of the world, develop secure relationships, learn, and meet expected developmental milestones. It is a critical period of brain development heavily influenced by environment and experiences; including the ability of caregivers to read and respond to infant cues and meet their needs.

Effective targeted intervention for at risk groups (i.e., vulnerable populations, identified diagnoses) has the potential to prevent or minimise the long-term impacts on a child’s development. Empowering families through coaching can help the infant overcome developmental challenges and reach full potential.

 Occupational therapists have a unique role in supporting infant performance and participation in daily activities and routines. The role is well supported by an increasing body of evidence in the areas of family centred care, interactive approaches, and the understanding of successful interventions for this age group.

Workshop Content/ Objectives – The workshop aims to provide participants with:

• An understanding of the occupational roles of infancy
• An overview of the unique occupational therapy role with supporting infant and family best performance
• Using an occupation-based approach to support clinicians clinical reasoning (including OT role, observation/assessment, positioning, intervention approaches) for engagement with this population, including:
  • regulation and arousal
  • social interaction and engagement
  • play (including cognitive and fine motor play)
  • self-care (sleep, feeding)

This workshop aims to be practical in nature, include video and case studies to assist participants integrate their knowledge and skills.

Workshop Delivery – The workshop will be delivered over 4 weeks via an integrated system of pre-reading material (eg familiarisation with provided resources), weekly pre-recorded lecture presentations and the scheduled online tutorial sessions.  Participants will need to allocate 1.5 – 2 hours per week for self-study outside the online group sessions

• Workshop Manuals participants will be mailed a hard copy of the workshop manual which will include:
  • presentation notes, covering the online presentation content as well as the case studies used in the group tutorial sessions
  • resources to assist with implementing workshop content into clinical practice
• Online content one week prior to the workshop, participants will be emailed a link to the pre-recorded online presentation related to the upcoming tutorial session. Presentation content will be approx. 1 – 1½ hours in length – participants are expected to have viewed this content prior to participation in the scheduled group tutorial session (NB. the link to this content will expire on commencement of the accompanying tutorial session).
• On line group tutorial sessions – using Zoom videoconferencing, participants will have the opportunity to link into four consecutive interactive tutorials (group discussions, case studies and Q&A sessions) to integrate their newly acquired knowledge and skills. Participants will be emailed the link (including password) to their scheduled sessions.
• Participants will need to have access to internet facilities including Zoom and webcam to ensure that they are able to download and view workshop content, as well as actively participate in the on line group tutorials and agree to the online T&C.
• To fully participate in the interactive components of the group tutorial sessions, participants are encouraged to log on using a tablet, laptop or desk top computer. While utilising a mobile phone to access these sessions, the functionality of the device may limit participants ability to fully engage in the interactive components of the session.

Workshop Recording – Please note to safeguard the copyright of material presented, maintain the confidentiality of case discussions and the privacy of participants, this workshop WILL NOT be recorded. 

 This workshop is suitable for occupational therapists.

About the Presenter – Lisa Findlay – Lisa is a Clinical Lead Occupational Therapist at Queensland Children’s Hospital. She has over 30 years clinical experience with infants and has contributed to education, research projects and online resource development. Lisa has particular interests in supporting parent and infant roles, dyadic interaction and very early intervention for infants with neurological injury and medical complexity.