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Pint-sized teachers

Story by Nicole Sweeney Etter | Photos by Ryan Aubert

Above: PT students Patricia Dunaway and Matthew Leblang with 1-year-old Luke Lunow. Below: Student Julie Prislipsky works with 10-month-old Alexis Hirtzig.

With a mischievous gleam in her blue-green eyes, 10-month-old Alexis Hirtzig squirms on a mat in Marquette's Alumni Memorial Union before attempting to snatch a student's paper and pen. Her intensely observant audience takes notes as Alexis happily plays and shows off her crawling, rolling and grasping skills.

"Definitely has hip abduction," a student notes.

"Everything she's doing is right on target with what we've learned," another student says.

Every spring, Marquette physical therapy students in the Lifespan Development class get an unusual set of pint-sized teachers: babies 0-18 months. A 35-year tradition, the Baby Lab, as it's known, allows fifth-year PT students to assess human motor development on some pretty cute subjects. "Students learn to analyze movement," explains Dr. Emilie Aubert, organizer of the one-day event and an adjunct associate professor of physical therapy. "Not just does the baby creep, but how does he creep?"

PT students spend the semester studying early childhood motor skill development, mostly through textbooks, photos and videos, before the babies arrive on campus. The lab gives students the chance to observe healthy babies, but sometimes they catch early signs of potential problems — for example, a baby predisposed to sitting in a "W" shape, which can cause lifelong orthopedic strain; muscle spasticity that can hinder a baby's reaching movements; or weak head/neck muscles that can indicate not enough "tummy time." The Baby Lab is a precursor to the Pediatric Interventions course PT students take in their sixth year.

The participating babies — around 700 over the past 35 years — are children of Marquette alumni, faculty/staff and community members. In a few cases, Baby Lab subjects have returned years later — as parents with their own tots in tow.

Alexis' parents, Nicole (Gaytan) Hirtzig, PT '07, and Eric Hirtzig, Eng '05, came from Chicago with Alexis' grandparents. "I remember when I was in Baby Lab," Nicole says. "You really need to have hands-on experience to understand what you're learning in the classroom. It gives you a new perspective."

During the lab, students rotate to observe different children. Liam Hoctor, nearly 4 months old, wiggles with excitement at a blanket dangled above him as 8-month-old Brayden Nurse chatters and plays with a toy truck. Meanwhile, 1-year-old Luke Lunow makes a run for the door, despite the students' best attempts to entertain him on the mat and entice him up a set of soft stairs. "He's not much of a sit-and-play-er — he does more laps," explained his laughing mom, Beth Lunow, who works in University Advancement.

While the chance to play with babies for a few hours is more fun than your average class, students are also required to write a report on their observations.

"I have no babies in my life," says student Cate Kelley, "so it's nice to have the opportunity to apply what we've learned in class."