Infant Space Theory

  • The Infant Space Theory describes four primary aspects of how infants develop interactions with objects and space in their home environment. The first aspect is through gaze and visual play. Between 2 to 6 months, the emergence of gaze path, gaze search, and gaze alignment allows infants to use gaze path to search, scan for their mother and objects, and to align and direct gaze. They explore out-of-reach objects like moving contrasts and aircrafts, through vision. When they grow older, infants play with vision-obscured play, and use their eyes and hand together, initially learn to grasp by gazing at their hands and then the objects of interest. The second aspect is mapping and ranging of the home landscape. They appeared to recognize activity sites like the changing table, then develop to recognize specific aspects of a room’s layout, and later show awareness of larger home space. Afterward the infants use space in home by proning, shifting circles, edge crawling, roll travel, edge cruising, roaming, and targeted travel. Once they can walk, their space use patterns are no longer limited and they are able to explore around home. The third aspect is stationary object play. Infants contact with textures, combine surface and single objects, then develop to free object play with hands and mouth, later they play with multiple objects. The last aspect is mobile object play. Once the infants gain mobility, surface play with jumping, dancing, and climbing, emerges. Then mobile play combines with surface and single objects including propelling and driving. Propelling is the infant’s effort to drop or other ways to launch objects through space. Driving is that the infant pushes, pulls, and rides objects in home. The infants develop their motor abilities by active searching for challenge in their surrounding environments, and the interactions facilitate visual, spatial, and object play developments. The model also describes concrete developmental milestones, needs of child, to facilitate therapists in understanding the infants’ development. Therapists utilize naturalistic early intervention, and enhance family-focused and flexible interventions to facilitate development of children.

Summarized by

  • Macey Cho

Type

  • Theory

Population

  • Child

Disability

  • Developmental disability

Domain of occupation

  • Unspecified

Application Note

  • With equipped knowledge of occupational development in home, therapists can facilitate natural play opportunities of the infant with family on a daily basis.

Key Reference

  • Pierce, D., Munier, V., & Myers, C. T. (2009). Informing early intervention through an occupational science description of infant-toddler interactions with home space. American Journal of Occupational Therapy, 63, 273-287.

Year Published

  • 2009

Primary Developer

  • Doris Pierce

Primary Developer Email

  • doris.pierce@eku.edu

Related Models

Psychoanalytic Frame of Reference

  • The psychoanalytic frame of reference (FOR) emphasizes on the unconscious aspect of what is done and said, and it is embedded in an occupational therapy relationship model of practice - the Vivaio model (MOVI). The central element of the MOVI is the recognition of constant emotions that exist in the interdependent relationship between the three elements of patient, therapist and ‘doing’.

Model of Co-Occupation

  • The Model of Co-Occupation suggests that co-occupation is characterized by shared physicality, emotionality, and intentionality in an occupation with another person(s). Co-occupation is an occupation involving other person(s), which is interactive and responsive. Some examples are that students work together on a project or a mother puts her infant to the bed. Solitary occupations do not involve another person(s); some examples are ADL activities or playing solitaire.

Theory of Occupational Reconstructions

  • The theory of occupational reconstructions emphasizes the mind-body engagement to deal with an inherently transformational injustice or problematic situation. This theory views occupations as pragmatic with meaning of inquiry. In other words, occupations are experiments for searching the truth. Occupations are creative, and engagement in occupations are intrinsically motivated (the hallmark of occupational therapy). This theory consists of seven principles, 1) Occupational reconstructions respond to a problematic situation (i.e.

Three-Dimensional Model of Self

  • This model is a developmental model of three basic dimensions of self: biological self (starting when an infant first feels the need for food and warmth), social self (starting when an infant begins to perceive persons other than self), and temporal self (starting when an adolescence’s thoughts and aspirations for the future begin to motivate thinking and behavior).

Model of Playfulness

  • The Model of Playfulness suggests that playfulness can be determined within any transaction of the evaluation of three elements, each of which can be represented as a continuum. The three elements are (1) source of motivation (from intrinsic to extrinsic), (2) perception of control (from internal to external), and (3) the suspension of reality (from free to not free). Intrinsic motivation, such as mastery or pure sensation of movement, is the aspect(s) of activity itself that provides motivation for the individual to involve in an activity.

Model Type

Population

Disability

Domain of Occupation

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