Conversational Speech and Language Skills of Children Born Preterm and Full Term

Abstract

Preschoolers born preterm are at an increased risk for adverse neurodevelopmental outcomes; however, the impact of preterm birth on speech development has not been fully investigated. The primary objective of this study was to document the conversational speech production abilities of preschoolers born preterm via speech sample analysis. A secondary objective was to investigate the association between speech and language skills in this population. The speech production abilities of children born preterm ( n = 29) and full term ( n = 22) were assessed using whole-word measures of phonological complexity and accuracy. No significant differences were found between the preterm and full-term groups on any of the speech variables. One of the speech variables, pMLU, was significantly correlated with several variables assessing language skills in the preterm group. Comprehensive communication evaluations, which may include the use of speech sample analysis, remain an important component of the follow-up care of children born preterm.

Infant-Directed Speech to Preterm Infants during the First Year Postpartum: The Influence of Preterm Birth Weight and Maternal Parenting Stress

“…Problems in the acquisition of speech, communication, and language skills are more prevalent in the premature population compared to the full-term one [7]. These difficulties have been documented in the early stages of development, impacting, for example, the onset of gestural abilities [8], the acquisition of first words [9], and the development of early lexical and syntactic skills [9,10]. The risk of encountering delays or disorders in the developmental trajectories becomes more pronounced with lower gestational age [11] or when preterm infants are born with a very small birth weight, as in the case of very low birth weight (VLBW; BW < 1500 g) or extremely low birth weight (ELBW; BW < 1000 g) premature births [3].…”