1148 Early Comunicative and Language Development in Preterm Infants without Neurological Damage

Abstract

Aims: This study aims to explore the role of biological and enviromental factors as predictors of the early comunicative and language development, comparing 12 Italian preterm infants without central nervous system insults and 12 Italian full-term infants.Method: All participants were assessed longitudinally through the questionnaire “Il Primo Vocabolario del Bambino” (PVB), administered monthly to the mothers between 11 and 18 months of age. Assessing preterm infants both chronological age and age correction for prematurity were applied. The measures derived by PVB were: gestures production, words comprehension and production in each age.Results: Results - on the basis of chronological age - indicated that preterm infants exhibited an initial and transient delay and disharmonic profiles in all aspects examined, with scores within the lower limits of typical development range. Otherwise, on the basis of age correction, preterm infants show performances, since the first observations, on or over the mean value.Conclusions: Using the age correction for prematurity the communicative and language abilities of preterm infants were overestimated and the initial delay of language development was underestimated. Findings are discussed considering the role of gestational age, but also of environmental factors, on early language development and the utility of correct age on the assessment of preterm infants during the second year of age.