The effects of the Rice infant sensorimotor stimulation treatment on the development of high-risk infants.

The Rice Infant Sensorimotor Stimulation (RISS) treatment was given to 15 premature infants to determine effects on neurophysiological development. The mothers of the infants were trained to administer the treatment for 15 minutes, 4 times a day, for 1 month, beginning the day the infant arrived home from the hospital. When each infant in the study (15 experimental and 14 control) was 4 months postnatal age, he/she was examined by a pediatrician, a psychologist, and a pediatric nurse who had no knowledge of which infant was experimental or control. The results indicated the experimental infants made significant gains in neurological development (p less than .001), weight gain (p less than .04), and mental development (p less than .05). The findings of this research indicate that early and systematic stimulation of the nerve pathways of the skin and of the vestibular nerve cells can accelerate growth and development of premature infants.