Baby Steps
Moving Forward One Step at a Time
The Baby Steps Clinic is for families who have a child exposed to drugs before birth, which can influence growth, development, learning, and behavior. We know you want the best for your child, and the Baby Steps Clinic can help by offering support, assessment, and interventions. The clinic is here to help your child reach his or her full potential and to support you as you support your child’s development.
Why Bring Your Baby to the Baby Steps Clinic?
- Explore tools to promote your baby’s health and development.
- Conveniently meet with a team of providers during the same clinic visit.
- Enjoy a welcoming environment and receive baby items in the Pop Up Party Room.
- Get connected to helpful community resources and services.
- Leave with tips and tools to try at home to help your baby thrive.
- Learn how to easily reach a provider who can answer questions as your baby grows.
- Conveniently meet staff from community organizations, such as Families Free, Tennessee/ETSU Early Intervention, and Northeast Tennessee Regional Health Office.
PediatricsProvider
Dr. Dianna Puhr
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The Baby Steps team includes the following health professionals:
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Board-certified pediatrician
Care coordinator
The care coordinator follows your family from pregnancy through early childhood helping to track progress, schedule appointments, serve as the point person for questions, make referrals to other services, and help you navigate aspectes of your child's medical, developmental, and emotional needs.
Audiologist
The audiologist will use age-appropriate objective tests like tympanometry, otoacoustic emissions (OAE) and/or auditory brainstem responses (ABR) to assess your child's entire auditory system from the eardrum to the auditory brain. The audiologist will also ask about your child's listening behavior at home.
Speech-language pathologist
The speech-language pathologist (SLP) will play with your baby, talk with you, and use age-appropriate tests during your visit. SLPs help babies develop their listening, sound-making, talking, social, play, and feeding skills.
Occupational therapist
The occupational therapist (OT) will assess your child’s sensory, social, play, and daily living skills by watching your child. The OT will ask how your child sleeps, eats, plays, and learns at home, in child care, or at school.Physical therapist
The physical therapist (PT) will observe how your child moves while playing and look for muscle stiffness. The PT will help you to support your child in learning to move, calming himself or herself, and playing to get stronger with better balance.
Registered dietitian
The registered dietician (RD) will evaluate your baby’s growth and nutrition. The RD will assess your child's nutritional needs and make suggestions for healthy growth.
Why ETSU Health?
We know that you want the best for your children! ETSU Health’s Baby Steps Clinic is there to help through support, assessment and intervention.
We care for children from birth to 5 years of age who were exposed to drugs before birth. That exposure can influence growth, development, learning and behavior.
Our Baby Steps Clinic is here to help children reach their full potential and to assist your family as you support your child’s development.
Manage Your Health with MyETSUHealth
View test results, make appointments, request prescription refills, and message your doctor from any Web-enabled device by using our secure online portal, MyETSUHealth. Our technology also allows anyone on your care team to securely access your health information, making sure you always get care that's right for you and based on the latest evidence.