Occupational Therapy and babies treatment in premature intervention from a Hypothesis of Psychomotor Functioning: Single case study

Abstract

Introduction: Ongoing studies about premature intervention (PI) on babies with developmental risk, like prematures, invite therapists to construct new clinical treatments. Objective: To analyze the effectiveness of a Hypothesis of Psychomotor Functioning (HPF) for treatment of the premature babies. Method: Qualitative, longitudinal, and clinical almost experimental single case study. We studied one premature baby, with developmental and psychic risk, identified by the PREAUT and IRDI protocols. The baby received three months of PI treatment by occupational therapy from the HPF. Treatment was filmed and registered in a field diary. We then compared the proposed objectives and the collected results, outlining the effects of the HPF. Results: The case confirms that the psychomotor irregularity may be understood as a psychomotor symptom and its source construed as from a HPF. The irregularity is considered in a singular way, as observation of how the child constructs its Body Scheme (BS) and Body Image (BI), starting from the bonds with parents. The treatment effectiveness was confirmed from a HPF, as the psychomotor symptom went away (BS), giving place for cognitive and psychomotor acquisitions, and to the maternal resignification of the investments in her baby (BI). The BS is taken as a cognitive and motor psychic functioning related to the BI in construction. Conclusion: The HPF interprets the baby psychomotor process based on its construction, allowing a PI that can transform a psychomotor symptom into a structuring motion.