A descriptive study of the clinical practice patterns of occupational therapists working with infants and young children.

This investigation was designed to gather descriptive data on the clinical practice patterns of occupational therapists working with infants and young children. One hundred nineteen therapists entered the study, and 118 completed the interview, yielding a response rate of 99.4%. The therapists were highly experienced, with a mean of 9.47 years working in pediatrics. The school setting was the most common type of facility in which therapists served infants and young children and accounted for 37.3% of the sample. The majority of the respondents (67.8%) were members of formally identified teams. Although 80.5% of the therapists served very young children (aged birth to 12 months), no therapists served this population exclusively. Considerable variability in models of service provision, team structures, and assessment and treatment practices were found. Additionally, there was a lack of consensus on the unique contributions of occupational therapy and diverse opinions regarding the importance of selected frames of reference. Implications of the findings on professional initiatives to enhance practice are discussed.