Date Presented 04/6/21 This qualitative study illuminated components and intersections of cognitions, behaviors, and social environments that characterized and influenced the recovery process after distal radius fracture. Findings highlight the need for strategies to restructure clients' beliefs and change behaviors to promote health. Incorporating social cognitive elements as part of a holistic psychosocial perspective may be one way of demonstrating OT's value in musculoskeletal rehabilitation. Primary Author and Speaker: Brocha Z. Stern Contributing Authors: Farzaneh Yazdani, Tove Carstensen, and Tore Bonsaksen

Date Presented 04/23/21 The Neonatal Oral–Motor Assessment Scale is a clinical tool commonly used to evaluate the oral–motor skills of neonates. This study is to examine its predictability in feeding performance using newly organized items. The results showed that in addition to the adjusted age and weight at observed feed, jaw depression and jaw initiation were the significant predictors for successful bottle feed. Discuss implications of findings and the need for standardized assessment in neonates' feeding. Primary Author and Speaker: Tsu-Hsin Howe Additional Authors and Speakers: Christine L. Kroll

Date Presented 03/26/20 The NOMAS is a clinical tool commonly used to evaluate the oral-motor skills of neonates. This study is to examine its predictability in feeding performance using newly organized items. The results showed that in addition to the adjusted age and weight at observed feed, jaw depression and jaw initiation were the significant predictors for successful bottle feed. Participants will discuss implications of findings and the need for standardized assessment in neonate feeding. Primary Author and Speaker: Tsu-Hsin Howe Contributing Authors: Ching-Fan Sheu

Importance: Children with hemiplegic cerebral palsy (CP) demonstrate spatial attention disregard, but the rehabilitation approach to CP is traditionally motor oriented. Objective: To explore spatial attention disregard in children with hemiplegic CP and its relationship to their motor performance in daily activities. Design: Cross-sectional study. Setting: Community. Participants: Twenty-five children with hemiplegic CP and 25 age-matched typically developing children. Outcomes and Measures: For spatial attention performance, the Random Visual Stimuli Detection Task; for developmental disregard, the Observatory Test of Capacity, Performance, and Developmental Disregard; and for motor performance, the Melbourne Assessment 2. Results: Children with hemiplegic CP evidenced spatial attention disregard on their more affected sides, and this phenomenon was correlated with developmental disregard. Conclusions and Relevance: Children with hemiplegic CP demonstrate developmental disregard in both the motor and the visual–spatial attention domains. Including evaluation of and intervention for visual–spatial attention for children with hemiplegic CP in the traditionally motor-oriented rehabilitation approach is recommended. What This Article Adds: This research provides evidence that children with hemiplegic CP demonstrate disregard in the domain of visual–spatial attention. The findings suggest that evaluation of and intervention for visual–spatial attention should be included in CP rehabilitation in addition to the traditionally motor-oriented approach.

OBJECTIVE. We explored the cultural beliefs that influence Latino-American mothers’ feeding practices with their young children and the sources they referenced in making food choices for their children. METHOD. We conducted semistructured interviews with 12 Latino-American mothers focusing on their experiences of feeding their young children. Data analysis, based in grounded theory, consisted of interview transcription, content analysis, coding, and theme development. RESULTS. We identified four themes summarizing the mothers’ feeding practices: (1) “Grandma knows best,” (2) “I want my child(ren) to be healthy,” (3) “always soup and always rice,” and (4) “mealtime is family time.” CONCLUSION. Occupational therapy practitioners need to obtain accurate information from families about feeding practices and to understand and interpret those practices in broader cultural contexts to design and implement targeted feeding intervention strategies that avoid stereotyping or misinterpreted information. To promote family-centered, meaningful interventions, practitioners must understand the cultural influences on feeding practices and be sensitive to mothers’ needs.

We explored parental feeding practices, feeding issues during the first 2 yr of life, and the relationship between feeding issues and levels of maternal distress in preterm infants. Four hundred twenty mothers (239 with preterm infants, 181 with full-term infants) participated in the study. The Behavior-Based Feeding Questionnaire for Infants With Premature History and the Parenting Stress Index–Chinese Version were used as the two outcome measures. The results indicated that preterm infants had different feeding experiences compared with their full-term counterparts. They tended to start solid food later in life and had limited experiences in food variation. Parenting stress was prevalent in parents with preterm infants and was associated with the frequency of feeding issues, especially at later ages when supplementary foods were being introduced.

Date Presented 4/20/2018 This study investigated parental feeding practices and perceived feeding issues of their low-birthweight, premature infants during the first 2 yr of life. Results show that preterm infants not only started supplemental food much later but also experienced limited food variation. Primary Author and Speaker: Tsu-Hsin Howe Contributing Authors: Ching-Fan Sheu, Tien-Ni Wang

Date Presented 3/30/2017 The aim of this study is to investigate motor performance in children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). The findings regarding specific challenges in motor skills among children with different subtypes of ADHD will assist therapists to better understand and address these deficits in providing precise intervention. Primary Author and Speaker: Chien-Ying Yang Contributing Authors: Tsu-Hsin Howe

This study investigates handwriting characteristics and potential predictors of handwriting legibility among typically developing elementary school children in Taiwan. Predictors of handwriting legibility included visual–motor integration (VMI), visual perception (VP), eye–hand coordination (EHC), and biomechanical characteristics of handwriting. A total of 118 children were recruited from an elementary school in Taipei, Taiwan. A computerized program then assessed their handwriting legibility. The biomechanics of handwriting were assessed using a digitizing writing tablet. The children’s VMI, VP, and EHC were assessed using the Beery–Buktenica Developmental Test of Visual–Motor Integration. Results indicated that predictive factors of handwriting legibility varied in different age groups. VMI predicted handwriting legibility for first-grade students, and EHC and stroke force predicted handwriting legibility for second-grade students. Kinematic factors such as stroke velocity were the only predictor for children in fifth and sixth grades.

Date Presented 4/8/2016 This mixed-methods study of cooperative learning was implemented in a professional-level theory course. The results showed significant changes in attitude toward small-group learning regardless of prior group experience. Attitude toward groups influenced how students engaged in group activities. Primary Author and Speaker: Jim Hinojosa Contributing Authors: Tsu-Hsin Howe, Ching-Fan Sheu

Research articles on the effectiveness of feeding interventions for infants and young children were identified, appraised, and synthesized. Thirty-four studies met the inclusion criteria and were reviewed. Three broad intervention themes regarding feeding approaches were identified on the basis of their theoretical orientations. These three feeding approaches were (1) behavioral interventions, (2) parent-directed and educational interventions, and (3) physiological interventions. Synthesis of the evidence suggested that various feeding approaches may result in positive outcomes in the areas of feeding performance, feeding interaction, and feeding competence of parents and children. This synthesis of empirical evidence supporting interventions for feeding problems provides a foundation for future research to define the types of outcomes that can be expected for children with different diagnoses or functional impairments and to develop best practice guidelines.

This study examined the effectiveness of two approaches used in elementary schools to improve children’s handwriting. Participants were 72 New York City public school students from the first and second grades. A nonequivalent pretest–posttest group design was used in which students engaged in handwriting activities using two approaches: intensive handwriting practice and visual–perceptual–motor activities. Handwriting speed, legibility, and visual–motor skills were examined after a 12-wk Handwriting Club using multivariate analysis of variance. The results showed that students in the intensive handwriting practice group demonstrated significant improvements in handwriting legibility compared with students in the visual–perceptual–motor activity group. No significant effects in handwriting speed and visual–motor skills were found between the students in intensive handwriting practice group and the students in visual–perceptual–motor activities group. The Handwriting Club model is a natural intervention that fits easily into existing school curriculums and can be an effective short-term intervention (response to intervention Tier II).

We examined the relationship between postural control and fine motor skills of preterm infants at 6 and 12 mo adjusted age. The Alberta Infant Motor Scale was used to measure postural control, and the Peabody Developmental Motor Scales II was used to measure fine motor skills. The data analyzed were taken from 105 medical records from a preterm infant follow-up clinic at an urban academic medical center in south Taiwan. Using multiple regression analyses, we found that the development of postural control is related to the development of fine motor skills, especially in the group of preterm infants with delayed postural control. This finding supports the theoretical assumption of proximal–distal development used by many occupational therapists to guide intervention. Further research is suggested to corroborate findings.

OBJECTIVE. This study compared bottle-feeding behaviors in preterm infants with and without bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD) during the initial hospitalization. METHOD. Individual sucking characteristics and feeding transitional rates were compared in 41 preterm infants (22 boys, 19 girls) with BPD and 99 infants (44 boys, 55 girls) without BPD. Observations of the first bottle feeding and observations of the last feeding before discharge were obtained from medical records of all infants retrospectively. RESULTS. On discharge, infants with BPD, unlike those without BPD, continued to have an immature sucking pattern and required longer hospital stays to attain full oral feeding (p < .001). No differences were found between the BPD and non-BPD groups in time needed for feeding and use of oral support. CONCLUSION. These results suggest that feeding transitional rate, rather than sucking pattern, may be a better discharge indicator for infants with BPD.