Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2020 May 8;29(2):625-637.
doi: 10.1044/2019_AJSLP-19-00049. Epub 2020 Mar 4.

Language, Motor, and Cognitive Outcomes of Toddlers Who Were Born Preterm

Diane Frome Loeb  1 , Caitlin M Imgrund  2 , Jaehoon Lee  3 , Steven M Barlow  4
Affiliations

Language, Motor, and Cognitive Outcomes of Toddlers Who Were Born Preterm

Diane Frome Loeb et al. Am J Speech Lang Pathol. .

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this study was to examine the language, motor, and cognitive abilities of children born preterm in four categories: (a) healthy preterm infants, (b) infants of diabetic mothers, (c) infants with respiratory distress syndrome, and (d) infants with chronic lung disease when the children were 30 months, uncorrected age. Comorbidity of language, motor, and cognitive skills was examined, along with predictor variables. Method A total of 148 children who were born preterm participated and were assessed using bivariate tests and logistic regression on standardized assessment scores. Results Controlling for the children's gestational age (GA), overall language ability was significantly lower in the infants of diabetic mothers group compared to the healthy preterm infant group, and expressive language skills were significantly lower for the chronic lung disease group than the respiratory distress syndrome group. The children with language delays on at least one measure were significantly more likely to have cognitive, motor, or both delays. Lower maternal education was a significant predictor for language and cognitive delays, and younger GA was a significant predictor for language, motor, and cognitive delays. Conclusion Assessment of the preterm infant from a biosystems approach allows the speech-language pathologist to take into consideration maternal education, diagnosis at preterm birth, and GA, which were found to impact the language, motor, and cognitive outcomes of children born preterm. Our findings further reinforce the concept of the whole child in that children born preterm who display language delays should be screened for co-occurring motor and/or cognitive delays.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

    1. Agarwal P. K., Shi L., Rajadurai V. S., Zheng Q., Yang P. H., Khoo P. C., Quek B. H., & Daniel L. M. (2018). Factors affecting neurodevelopmental outcome at 2 years in very preterm infants below 1250 grams: A prospective study. Journal of Perinatology, 38, 1093–1100. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41372-018-0138-3 - PubMed
    1. Allotey J., Zamora J., Cheong-See F., Kalidindi M., Arroyo-Manzano D., Asztalos E., van der Post J., Mol B. W., Moore D., Birtles D., Khan K. S., & Thangaratinam S. (2017). Cognitive, motor, behavioural and academic performances of children born preterm: A meta-analysis and systematic review involving 64 061 children. British Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, 125(1), 16–25. https://doi.org/10.1111/1471-0528.14832 - PubMed
    1. American Speech-Language-Hearing Association. (2005). Roles and responsibilities of speech-language pathologists in the Neonatal intensive care unit: Guidelines. http://www.asha.org/policy
    1. Aylward G. P. (2014). Neurodevelopmental outcomes of infants born prematurely. Journal of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics, 35(6), 394–407. https://doi.org/10.1097/01.DBP.0000452240.39511.d4 - PubMed
    1. Baumann N., Bartman P., & Wolke D. (2016). Health-related quality of life into adulthood after very preterm birth. Pediatrics, 137(4), e20153148. - PubMed

Publication types