Effectiveness of early intervention on developmental milestones among early-term babies

Abstract

Background. Developmental delay is the delayed milestone compared with peers. This pilot study aims to investigate the effect of early intervention on developmental delay among early‑term babies and infants aged three months. The study will utilize two widely recognized assessment tools, the Bayley Scale and the Denver Developmental Screening Test (DDST) Scale, to evaluate the developmental progress of the participants. The intervention will be provided for three months, and the study will examine the outcomes post‑intervention. Methods. This study is one of the perspective, experimental, single‑blinded, randomized control trials, and multi‑center hospital‑based outpatient department studies. Children who were visited and recruited from the outpatient department were assessed for developmental delay using DDST and Bayley scores. A total of 50 babies were chosen based on the inclusion criteria and then randomized into two groups. The control group with parental education and the experimental group were given early intervention. Assessment was done at 3‑months and post‑test on completion of 6 months. According to the Bayley score, and the data were analyzed. Results. According to the pilot study, the SPSS pre‑ and post‑values shows a significant difference in the gross motor functions of 14.10 ± 1.79, fine motor functions 7.90 ± 0.316, and cognitive functions 13.60 ± 0.516. This showed that the experimental group is significantly improved. Conclusion. This study showed that early‑term babies also have chances of developmental delay, and that early intervention for overcoming developmental delay is effective.