The Ei SMART Framework – Instructional Study Day Foundation Level Training

Each study day provides an in-depth introduction to the Ei SMART framework and is our Foundation level training before progressing to our Implementation days. The content is aimed specifically at doctors, nurses, therapists and everyone who is interested in neurodevelopment and early intervention right from the NNU to the community.

Ei SMART is a framework for clinical reasoning based on evidence based principles to give high risk babies the best start in life. It spans infant development from birth, to pre-school and beyond. It uniquely supports infant development by integrating Sensory, Motor, Attention and regulation and Relational development through co-production between multi-disciplinary healthcare professionals and parents working Together.

This study day is co-developed and presented by our team of therapists, (OT, PT, SLT), Nursing and medical practitioners, and parents with lived experience of having babies and young children with developmental differences and challenges.

Foundational Study day content includes:

• Evidence for why you should use the Ei SMART framework in early intervention.
• How co-production is embedded within the Ei SMART approach.
• Expand your skills and knowledge as you learn to focus on the relative contributions of, and the important inter-relationships between Sensory, Motor, Attention & Regulation and Relationships – Together.
• Application in the NNU and after discharge to optimise the neurodevelopment of infants at high risk of developmental challenges and how to cascade knowledge to support parents and carers.

Objectives

1. Define the 6 core principles of Ei SMART and how to begin to competently apply them to promote and support early infant and child development.

2. Recognize the interrelated threads of Ei SMART - SENSORY, MOTOR, ATTENTION & REGULATION, and RELATIONSHIPS, TOGETHER, and how the threads come together in an infant’s neurodevelopment.

3. Learn how the Ei SMART framework innovatively approaches early intervention (Ei) through supporting an infant’s sensory (S), motor (M), attention and regulation (A), and relational (R) development, with healthcare professionals and parents working together (T).

4. Explain why the Ei SMART approach influences every parent-infant relationship and every interaction and intervention defined Together (T) by parents, therapists, and health careers, as well as gaining a foundational knowledge and emerging competence about how to leverage the Ei SMART approach in daily practice to support the neurodevelopment of infants.

This study day is essential training for everyone working and interested in evidence based early intervention for infants and young children at risk of developmental challenges both in the Neonatal Unit and after discharge in follow-up.