Maternal, Child Health and Neonatal Nursing Commons^™

Furry Friends & Brighter Futures: Enhancing The Life Skills Of Toddlers With Autism Through Animal Assisted Therapy, Abigail Rosales Tolentino

Nursing | Senior Theses

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) encompasses a broad spectrum of challenges that impact social interaction, communication, and behavior. While Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) stands as a common therapeutic approach, there is a growing recognition of the need for personalized interventions. Animal Assisted Therapy (AAT) emerges as a promising avenue for enhancing social interactions. This study focuses on the utilization of dogs in AAT for toddlers aged 12 to 36 months with confirmed ASD diagnoses. The experimental group will undergo a combined intervention involving standard ABA therapy alongside weekly AAT sessions, whereas the control group will receive standard ABA therapy alone. Pre- …

Early Intervention Referral Process Improvement In Primary Care Pediatrics: An Evidence-Based Algorithm, Katherine G Mcmahon Thompson

DNP Scholarly Projects

Early Intervention programs provide evidence-based services to children with developmental delay from 0 to 3 years of age. Many children eligible for Early Intervention programs are not successfully referred to services provided by health care professionals for evaluations. The purpose of this doctoral project is to describe the evidence-based steps in a referral algorithm for early intervention evaluation to increase referrals by primary care health care providers and to increase evaluation rates of referred children. A draft algorithm was based on content analysis of empirical and theoretical literature. Experts in early intervention primary care services reviewed the draft algorithm, rank …

The Secret Ingredient For Improving Infant/Child Mental Health: Teaching Parents To Play, Geraldine Healy Marini

Occupational Therapy Doctorate Capstone Projects

Disorders in mental health are the highest of all disorders and results in the most common form of disability. Since 2011, mental health disorders have increased at alarming rates. It is estimated that 9.5 to 14.2% of children between the ages of 0 to 5 years have and emotional or behavioral problem. The mental health of parents or caregivers can affect and impact the development of young children (Nelson & Mann, 2011, Zero to Three, 2004).

The over arching goal of this research is to explore issues of mental health within parent-child interactions. Coaching parents during the co-occupation of play …