Trial reportPhysical therapy2021
START-Play Physical Therapy Intervention Impacts Motor and Cognitive Outcomes in Infants With Neuromotor Disorders: A Multisite Randomized Clinical Trial.
Trial report in Physical therapy, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 27 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
27 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 84 citations in OpenAlex.
- The effects of environmental enrichment in infants with or at high risk of cerebral palsy: an updated systematic review and meta-analysis.BMC pediatrics · 2025Pooled it
- New Approaches in Motor Intervention for Infants Aged 0-2 Years with or at High Risk of Unilateral or Bilateral Cerebral Palsy: A Systematic Review.Children (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- [Risk factors associated with neurodevelopmental outcomes at 2-3 years of corrected age in extremely preterm infants].Zhongguo dang dai er ke za zhi = Chinese journal of contemporary pediatrics · 2026Article
- Human-AI Cooperation in Healthcare and Rehabilitation.Delaware journal of public health · 2026Article
- Enhancing Gross Motor Function through Integrated Play Therapy and Neurodevelopmental Treatment in Spastic Diplegic Cerebral Palsy.International journal of preventive medicine · 2026Article
- Sitting Together and Reaching to Play Physical Therapy Affects Dyadic Emotional Availability in Children With Neuromotor Delay and Their Families.Physical therapy · 2025Article
- Sitting and caregiver speech input in typically developing infants and infants with cerebral palsy.PloS one · 2025Article
- Effects of the HEP® (Homeostasis-Enrichment-Plasticity) Approach in preterm infants with increased developmental risk: a randomized controlled study.Frontiers in pediatrics · 2025Article
- The neurobiology of play: a narrative review of evidence from mice and humans for advancing neurorehabilitation.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2025Article
- Evaluation of Potential Developmental Precursors to Executive Function in Young Children with Motor Delays: Exploratory Study.Behavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Article
- Motor and Cognitive Trajectories in Infants and Toddlers with and at Risk of Cerebral Palsy Following a Community-Based Intervention.Children (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Article
- The implementation of EMI-Heart, a family-tailored early motor intervention in infants with complex congenital heart disease, in practice: a feasibility RCT.Pilot and feasibility studies · 2024Article
- HEPChildren (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Article
- Article
- Do children with disabilities have the same opportunities to play as children without disabilities? Evidence from the multiple indicator cluster surveys in 38 low and middle-income countries.EClinicalMedicine · 2024Article
- Sitting Capacity and Performance in Infants with Typical Development and Infants with Motor Delay.Physical & occupational therapy in pediatrics · 2024Article
- Information Available to Parents Seeking Education about Infant Play, Milestones, and Development from Popular Sources.Behavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Article
- Opportunities for learning and social interaction in infant sitting: Effects of sitting support, sitting skill, and gross motor delay.Developmental science · 2023Article
- Article
- Assigning F-words as ingredients of interventions for children with cerebral palsy functioning at GMFCS IV and V: A scoping review protocol.Frontiers in rehabilitation sciences · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
14 authors at 9 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectiveOur objective was to evaluate the efficacy of the Sitting Together and Reaching to Play (START-Play) intervention in young infants with neuromotor disorders.
methodThis randomized controlled trial compared usual care early intervention (UC-EI) with START-Play plus UC-EI. Analyses included 112 infants with motor delay (55 UC-EI, 57 START-Play) recruited at 7 to 16 months of age across 5 sites. START-Play included twice-weekly home visits with the infant and caregiver for 12 weeks provided by physical therapists trained in the START-Play intervention; UC-EI was not disrupted. Outcome measures were the Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development, Third Edition (Bayley); the Gross Motor Function Measure; reaching frequency; and the Assessment of Problem Solving in Play (APSP). Comparisons for the full group as well as separate comparisons for infants with mild motor delay and infants with significant motor delay were conducted. Piecewise linear mixed modeling estimated short- and long-term effects.
resultsFor infants with significant motor delay, positive effects of START-Play were observed at 3 months for Bayley cognition, Bayley fine motor, and APSP and at 12 months for Bayley fine motor and reaching frequency outcomes. For infants with mild motor delay, positive effects of START-Play for the Bayley receptive communication outcome were found. For the UC-EI group, the only difference between groups was a positive effect for the APSP outcome, observed at 3 months.
conclusionSTART-Play may advance reaching, problem solving, cognitive, and fine motor skills for young infants with significant motor delay over UC-EI in the short term. START-Play in addition to UC-EI may not improve motor/cognitive outcomes for infants with milder motor delays over and above usual care. IMPACT: Concepts of embodied cognition, applied to early intervention in the START-Play intervention, may serve to advance cognition and motor skills in young infants with significant motor delays over usual care early intervention. LAY SUMMARY: If you have a young infant with significant delays in motor skills, your physical therapist can work with you to develop play opportunities to enhance your child's problem solving, such as that used in the START-Play intervention, in addition to usual care to help your child advance cognitive and motor skills.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.