Background Parental behavior described as “scaffolding” has been shown to influence outcomes in at-risk children. The purpose of this study was to compare maternal verbal scaffolding in toddlers born preterm and full term. Methods The scaffolding behavior of mothers of toddlers born preterm and healthy full term was compared during a 5 minute videotaped free play session with standardized toys. We compared two types of scaffolding and their associations with socio-demographic, neonatal medical factors, and cognition. Results The mothers of toddlers born full term used more complex scaffolding. Maternal education was associated with complex scaffolding scores for the preterm children only. Specifically, the preterm children who were sicker in the neonatal period, and whose mothers had higher education, used more complex scaffolding. In addition, children born preterm who had less days of ventilation, had higher cognitive scores when their mothers used more complex scaffolding. Similarly, cognitive and scaffolding scores were higher for children born full term. Discussion Our findings highlight early differences in mother-child interactive styles of toddlers born preterm compared to full term. Teaching parents play methods that support early problem solving skills may support a child’s method of exploration and simultaneously their language development.

This study used the Still Face Paradigm to investigate the relationship of maternal interaction on infants’ emotion regulation responses. Seventy infant-mother dyads were seen at 4 months and 25 of these same dyads were re-evaluated at 9 months. Maternal interactions were coded for attention seeking and contingent responding. Emotional regulation was described by infant stress reaction and overall positive affect. Results indicated that at both 4 and 9 months mothers who used more contingent responding interactions had infants who showed more positive affect. In contrast, mothers who used more attention seeking play had infants who showed less positive affect after the Still Face Paradigm. Patterns of stress reaction were reversed, as mothers who used more attention seeking play had infants with less negative affect. Implications for intervention and emotional regulation patterns over time are discussed.

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Background Deficits in executive function, including measures of working memory, inhibition and cognitive flexibility, have been documented in preschoolers born very low birth weight (VLBW) compared with preschoolers born with normal birth weight (NBW). Maternal verbal scaffolding has been associated with positive outcomes for both at-risk and typically developing preschoolers. Aims The purpose of this study was to examine associations between maternal verbal scaffolding, Verbal IQ (VIQ) and executive function measures in preschoolers born VLBW. Subjects A total of 64 VLBW and 40 NBW preschoolers ranging in age from 3 ½ to 4 years participated in the study. Outcome Measures VIQ was measured with the Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence – 3rd edition. Executive function tests included the Bear Dragon, Gift Delay Peek, Reverse Categorization and Dimensional Change Card Sort-Separated Dimensions. Study Design Maternal verbal scaffolding was coded during a videotaped play session. Associations between maternal verbal scaffolding and preschoolers’ measures of VIQ and executive function were compared. Covariates included test age, maternal education, and gender. Results Preschoolers born VLBW performed significantly worse on VIQ and all executive function measures compared to those born NBW. Maternal verbal scaffolding was associated with VIQ for VLBW preschoolers and Gift Delay Peek for the NBW group. Girls born VLBW outperformed boys born VLBW on VIQ and Bear Dragon. Conclusion Integrating scaffolding skills training as part of parent-focused intervention may be both feasible and valuable for early verbal reasoning and EF development.

Object permanence is considered the earliest method for assessing working memory. Factors affecting object permanence performance in a sample of two hundred and thirty-three 18- to 22-month olds born with extremely low birth weight were examined. It was hypothesized that object permanence would be directly related to emotional and attention regulation, that children with lower birth weight and higher illness severity would have more difficulty on the object permanence task, and that no ethnic/racial differences would be found, as this is considered a culturally unbiased task. Attainment of object permanence had a significant positive association with emotional and attention regulation, even after controlling the medical severity and socioeconomic factors. More girls than boys passed the object permanence items. There was no ethnic/racial difference on object permanence. Our findings indicate that object permanence may be a culturally fair way of assessing development, and emotional and attention regulation are potential avenues of intervention for such skill.