Communicative performance and vocabulary domain in preschool preterm infants

Abstract

Objective The objective of this study was to evaluate and compare the performance of children in preschool age who were born premature and term, without neurological injury, regarding receptive and expressive language skills, and to reflect on the importance of these skills for performance in preschool.Materials and Methods Two groups named Preterm Group and Comparison Group, each composed by 40 children, as well as 80 legal representatives (mothers) and 80 teachers of the participants. To pair the groups, we considered chronological age (months), sex, educational level, type of school (public or private) and socioeconomic status. To assess the groups we used structured and semi-structured Observation of Communicative Behavior and applied the ABFW Child Language Test - Part B-Vocabulary and the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test. To assess the legal representatives we applied an anamnesis questionnaire and the MacArthur Communicative Development Inventory. The assessment of the teachers consisted of the MacArthur Communicative Development Inventory and a Student Assessment Protocol developed by the authors.Results For the observation of communicative behavior, the categories with the highest losses were: narrative, maintaining dialogic activities and attention difficulties. In the ABFW Child Language Test and Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test there were statistically significant differences. In the MacArthur Communicative Development Inventory there were statistically significant differences in expressive vocabulary, but no differences in receptive vocabulary, for both the mothers and the teachers.Conclusion Children born prematurely with low risk of neurological sequelae in preschool age may have greater difficulties in linguistic performance than their peers born to term.

Análise comparativa do vocabulário expressivo de crianças nascidas pré-termo e a termo

“…This paper demonstrated that there can be a relationship between premature birth and the difficulties in semantical-lexical development, corroborating the consensus in the national and international literature (14,18,20,21,24) . The data observed highlight the need for methodological and standardized assessments, with the purpose of early detecting impairments in oral language development, since they can have future consequences in the teaching and learning process.…”

“…Differences in ND were observed in professions and places, as well as in SP, in clothing, professions, places, and shapes and colors. In the literature, there is evidence that the conceptual fields of professions and places are the ones presenting the lowest naming percentage in UWD (18,19) . Nevertheless, in this study, places did not differ statistically in the UWD analysis between the groups.…”

“…Lexical development is related to children's socio-interactional experiences. Vocabulary acquisition is complex, influenced by the environment and social relations to which the child is exposed -such as the family dynamics, the interaction with their parents, the immediate social environment, and the stimulus they are given in the first years of life (18) -, as well as their personal characteristics regarding cognitive skills, executive functions, and memory (26) .…”

“…In general, the literature points to the effects of prematurity in relation to the acquisition of language. These effects could either be comorbidities of other clinical conditions associated with prematurity or be related to the prematurity itself, as a biological risk factor (28,29) , with impairments in lexical (7,18,20) , phonological (11,30) , semantic and pragmatic skills (11) .…”

La perception maternelle de la qualité de vie d’enfants nés extrêmement prématurés durant la petite enfance : une étude descriptive corrélationnelle

“…Les progrès en obstétrique et en néonatologie font en sorte que les taux de survie des bébés nés extrêmement prématurés s'améliorent depuis les dernières années (Patel, 2016). Des études démontrent toutefois des atteintes, voire des retards, sur le développement d'un grand nombre de bébés nés extrêmement prématurés, et ce, dès leur petite enfance (Lamônica et al, 2018;Linsell et al, 2019;Logan et al, 2017;Lowe et al, 2019;Olsen et al, 2021;Peralta-Carcelen et al, 2017).…”