Starting life in a neonatal intensive care unit (called the Infant Special Care Unit, or ISCU, at UTMB) is stressful for preterm or sick babies and their families. Within a framework of family centered and individualized development care, a core team of occupational therapy neonatal clinical specialists is dedicated to the ISCU to promote improved functional and developmental outcome for ISCU graduates, and to support families in learning to parent these special infants.

Training and Experience:

Neonatal intensive care is an advanced clinical practice area and all neonatal OT staff are highly trained. Specialty certifications include NIDCAP (Neonatal Individualized Developmental Care and Assessment Program), CITMI (Certified Infant Touch and Massage Instructor, NOMAS (Neonatal Oral Motor and Assessment Scale), and state-certification in breastfeeding support and education.

Information about the Neonatal OT Program in ISCU

• Occupational Therapy receives consults for developmental monitoring and support from birth on all ISCU infants born at 32 weeks or less, those with significant medical complications or extended hospitalizations, and infants with specific functional issues such as feeding problems or congenital anomalies.
• Evaluations may be observational for young and fragile infants, or "hands-on" with older more stable babies.
• Infant assessment may include (but is not limited to) tolerance to environmental or care giving stimuli, resting posture, muscle tone, movement patterns, quality of sleep and arousal, orientation to auditory or visual stimuli, response to nurturing touch, self-calming abilities, and bottle or breast feeding readiness / performance.
• Developmental treatment plans are developed based on each baby’s specific strengths and vulnerabilities, and continually adapted as the baby matures or medical status changes.
• Sample developmentally supportive interventions may include (but are not limited to) environmental and care giving modifications to reduce stressful stimuli and protect periods of undisturbed sleep, support of the infant during some medical procedures, therapeutic positioning, nurturing touch, promotion of skin-to-skin holding ("kangaroo care"), nonnutritive ("dry") sucking for self-calming and in preparation for feeding, bottle feeding, assistance with breast feeding, and family collaboration/education/support.
• Older or chronic infants may also receive traditional developmental stimulation (i.e. motor skills, play, social) when tolerated, and some infants may require rehabilitation measures such as range of motion or splinting. A referral to local community Early Childhood Education (ECI) programs may be made for ongoing developmental assistance.
• Parents are an integral component of the infant’s care team; collaboration, education, participation and support are emphasized.
• Infants followed be OT in ISCU receive post-discharge developmental follow-up in Preterm/High-Risk clinic to monitor progress and screen for potential problems.

For more information, please contact Teri Tullous, BS, OTR (tltullou@utmb.edu)