Objective: Neonatal intensive care units (NICUs) impose stressors on development. Comparative studies have focused mostly on the units' medical qualities and less on their developmental 'ecology'. The aim of the study was to develop a tool for measuring the various domains of a developmentally appropriate practice in the NICU environment, and to assess its implementation in Israel.Study Design: A questionnaire, designed for NICU senior staff members, was completed by 76 respondents representing 24 NICUs in Israel. The tool that measures developmentally appropriate practice as applied in the NICU environment includes the following three domains: (a) parental and family involvement, (b) environmental control and (c) individualized care and assessment. These measures jointly produce the developmentally appropriate neonatal intensive-care practice (DANIP) index.Result: High variability was found in the application of procedures and programs considered developmentally appropriate. Units with a relatively large multidisciplinary team scored high. Overall, the NICUs in Israel did not consistently follow an integrated form of the developmental care as provided by the Neonatal Individualized Developmental Care and Assessment Program. It was found that individualized care and assessment was significantly and positively linked to control of the environment (r ¼ 0.53, P<0.01) and to parental and family involvement (r ¼ 0.76, P<0.01); the latter two scales were not associated. Of the three DANIP domains, parental involvement was salient. Although the staff highly appreciated the importance of environmental control and individualized care, application was limited. Conclusion:The DANIP index provides a good starting point for comparative studies.

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Physical therapists (PTs) are often one of the first professionals to evaluate children at risk. To examine the effect of an early screening training on pediatric PTs': (1) knowledge of autism spectrum disorder (ASD), (2) clinical self-efficacy, and (3) identification of markers. Twenty-six PTs participated in a 2-day "Early ASD Screening" workshop. The ASD Knowledge and Self-Efficacy Questionnaire, and video case study analysis were completed pre- and post-training. Changes following training were significant for ASD knowledge related to etiology and learning performance, early signs, risk factors, and clinical self-efficacy. Rating the videoed case study after the training, was significantly more accurate than it was before. Training PTs is important for enhancing early identification of ASD.

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The present study explored cultural differences in parental beliefs about motor development across 2 Western cultures: Israel and the Netherlands. Can 2 cultural models be distinguished regarding infant motor development in Israel and the Netherlands or are parental beliefs about motor development similar across these cultures? Using a questionnaire containing closed and open questions, beliefs of 206 Israeli and 198 Dutch parents of first-born children between 2 and 7 months old were analyzed. Based on both quantitative and qualitative analyses, distinct cultural models were found showing that the Dutch attributed a bigger role to maturation and children's own pace than to stimulation. The Israeli parents found stimulation of motor development important and discussed active stimulation more elaborately. When discussing supportive activities, the Israeli parents mentioned specific activities, whereas the Dutch parents used more general, vague expressions about support. Moreover, the Israeli parents discussed the need for expert advice and advice from relatives and other parents more than the Dutch parents, who rely on their own observations, books, or websites more often. The cultural background was the strongest predictor of parental beliefs about motor development. Parental education, age, children's birth weight, gender, and having seen a physical therapist showed weaker relations with parental beliefs. Altogether, 2 distinguishing cultural models can be found, raising the question whether infant motor development can be approached similarly across Western cultures. Besides this implication for science, practitioners should also be aware of differences between cultures and between parents. (PsycINFO Database Record

This longitudinal study of 27 infants examined the development of pulling-to-stand (PTS). In general, infants began PTS using a two-leg strategy and transitioned to a half-kneel strategy. As a group, infants showed no preference for either strategy at the onset of PTS, switching between strategies until half-kneeling became the dominant pattern about 1 month after the onset of PTS. Examination of individual developmental trajectories revealed variability in age at PTS onset, time between PTS onset and half-kneel strategy onset, duration of the two-leg strategy as the dominant pattern, time until the half-kneel strategy became the dominant pattern, shape of the transition between strategies (gradual vs. abrupt), and timing of PTS relative to onset of other motor milestones. We discuss variation in developmental trajectory in terms of adaptive behavior during the acquisition of new skills and as a process shaped by infants' unique experiences prior to and during the acquisition period.

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