The Googleverse in Early Intervention – Supporting Quality Development & Play Education for Parents

Parents actively seek information from popular sources, such as websites, applications (apps), and books, to learn about infant development and play activities to engage in with infants. It is helpful for PTs and PTAs to understand the depth and quality of information parents may encounter when searching about development and play in the first year of life. In this session, we will first discuss the findings from a parent survey and an EI provider survey to highlight: 1) the sources that parents turn to and trust; and 2) the sources that EI providers often recommend. We will then discuss the results of parent interviews, emphasizing the type of information that parents want about development and play and how parents would like that information to be shared with them. Finally, we will discuss the depth and quality of information (i.e., from a physical therapy perspective) shared with parents across 313 websites, apps, and books our team reviewed. In addition to gaining a better understanding of the current state of parent education, participants will leave with: 1) suggestions for higher-quality educational sources they may consider sharing with families; 2) examples of how to adapt play activities in infancy to promote child-initiated movement and problem-solving; and 3) guidance for conversing with families to support them in finding the information they want to know about infant development and play.