OBJECTIVE -To determine if insulin sensitivity is altered in prepubertal offspring exposed to a diabetic intrauterine environment.RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS -Fifteen control children, 17 offspring of type 1 diabetic women, and 10 offspring of type 2 diabetic women, aged between 5 and 10 years, underwent a frequently sampled intravenous glucose tolerance test (FSIGTT). Weight and height were measured, and body composition was calculated using bioelectrical impedance. Bergman's minimal model was applied to the glucose and insulin measurements to obtain values for insulin sensitivity (S i ), acute insulin response (AIR), and glucose effectiveness (S g ). RESULTS-S i was lowest in the offspring of type 2 diabetic mothers, and AIR was highest in this group, although neither of these changes reached significance (S i , P ϭ 0.2, and AIR, P ϭ 0.3). Offspring of type 2 diabetic mothers had higher BMI SD scores (P ϭ 0.004) and percentage fat mass (P ϭ 0.002) than the children in the other two groups. The BMI SD score and percentage fat mass in the subjects, as well as maternal insulin dose, were negatively correlated with offspring insulin sensitivity.CONCLUSIONS -Intrauterine exposure to hyperglycemia by itself was not associated with alterations in glucose regulation in prepubertal offspring. Children of mothers with type 2 diabetes, however, were overweight, and they had a tendency for a reduced S i . The combined effect of genetic and postnatal environmental factors, rather than prenatal exposure to hyperglycemia, may place this group at risk for developing impaired glucose tolerance in later life.

The purpose of this study was to trace the changes in a social speech register, talking to an animal, as used by children between the ages of five and 12 years. Each child's speech was recorded while she/he played alone with a rabbit. There were no changes in the nature of such speech between the age groups. However, boys and girls spoke differently to the rabbit. Boys used simpler speech, more imperatives and more annoyed utterances. Girls were more affectionate and asked more questions. Girls were less self conscious during the task. Girls' intonations were more expressive as measured by ratings and by the variability of the fundamental frequencies of their voices. A comparison of results on baby-talk with the characteristics of animal-talk indicated that the two registers are similar.Becoming competent in social speech involves the acquisition of a complex of knowledge and skills. The child must recognise the nature of the speech which the setting or the listener or the task calls for. She must have knowledge about a large number of speech styles in order to use the one that is socially appropriate. Thus, social speech behaviour involves the intersection of social cognitive skills and language development, presently two of the major issues in developmental psychology.There are a number of studies documenting the ages at which children are skilled in the use of one or another social speech register. Several describe children's abilities to use the baby-talk (BT) register (Shatz and Gelman, 1973;Sachs and Devin, 1976). The most informative study of children's ability to use various social speech registers was done by Andersen (1978). Using puppets, Andersen showed that children between the ages of four and seven knew many of the forms of baby-talk, teacher-talk, doctor-and nurse-talk, and to some extent foreigner talk. Her findings indicate that older children are better at many of the speech registers than younger ones. Also, children are best at using registers to which they have had substantial exposure; for example, BT and teacher-talk show more registral characteristics than do doctor-and nurse-talk. Gleason, Perlmann