Parent education in well-baby care: a new role for the occupational therapist.

Children who grow up without adequate stimulation often develop learning problems that require intensive treatment to permit them to perform at their optimum level. Many times they do not have the opportunity to make up for the experiences missed and become school drop-outs. Remedial services are time-consuming for children and wasteful of public funds, whereas preventive services enable children to achieve their intellectual potential. Occupational therapists can make an important contribution to ambulatory pediatrics because of their background in physical and mental development, as well as their expertise in planning and carrying out treatment programs. They could put these skills to good use in the pediatric clinic playroom by screening children who presentdevelopmental lags and who could then be referred for additional testing and evaluation. The playroom could extend its role to provide needed services: a base for a cognitively oriented educational program for parents of infants and toddlers; recreation activities for waiting children and their siblings; and early detection of developmental and/or emotional problems.