Introduction

During the one to two month period, infants acquire many new skills. The infant's perceptive abilities help guide their motor choices and, ultimately, their motor skills. Initially, these skills are spontaneous, but they transition into more intentional patterns. This course provides foundational knowledge of infant development in the 1-2 month period including communication, social and fine and gross motor perceptual-motor. Having a good knowledge and understanding of how typical development emerges and changes over this period allows therapists to identify atypical development, how adverse circumstances affect development and how early intervention can be helpful in supporting infants and families.

Aims

The general aim of the course is to provide physiotherapists and occupational therapists working with infants the knowledge and skills to recognise, describe and analyse typical infant attention, vocal, social and perceptual-motor behaviour in the 1-2 month period (from 5 – 15 weeks.)

Outline

This course is made up of videos, reading, forum posts and a final quiz. The course content is split into the following sections:

1. Videos
2. Reading activity
3. Quiz

Target audience

This course is aimed at rehabilitation professionals, students and assistants including but not limited to Physiotherapists, Occupational Therapists, Speech and Language Therapists, Rehabilitation Doctors, Rehabilitation Nurses, Prosthetists, Orthotists, Psychologists, Audiologists, Dietetics, Social Workers. Community Health Workers, Nurses or Medical Doctors interested in this subject are also invited to participate.