Language in Preterm Born Children: Atypical Development and Effects of Early Interventions on Neuroplasticity

Abstract

Predicting language performances after preterm birth is challenging. It is described in the literature that early exposure to the extrauterine environment can be either detrimental or advantageous for neurodevelopment. However, the emphasis mostly lies on the fact that preterm birth may have an unfavorable effect on numerous aspects of development such as cognition, language, and behavior. Various studies reported atypical language development in preterm born children in the preschool years but also in school-aged children and adolescents. This review gives an overview of the course of language development and examines how prematurity can lead to atypical linguistic performances. In this paper, we mainly focus on environmental and neurophysiological factors influencing preterm infant neuroplasticity with potential short- and long-term effects on language development. Further research, however, should focus on examining the possible benefits that early exposure might entail.

Children born before 32 weeks of gestation displayed impaired reading fluency, comprehension and spelling skills at 9 years of age

“…Preterm birth occurs at a time of rapid growth and development of the brain when several vulnerable processes take place, including neurogenesis, synaptogenesis, brain folding and myelination. Advanced neuroimaging studies have brought to light the structural and functional changes in brain microstructure and connectivity in VLGA individuals 14,28 . Altered brain maturation may also lie behind aberrant functional organisation of language pathways that may further lead to atypical lingual development in VLGA children 14 …”

“…This might have affected the results and might explain why the degree of prematurity failed to correlate with the literacy outcome. Environmental factors during the first hospitalisation, including abnormal auditory experience and inadequate parent‐infant interaction, may also have an effect on language abilities among VLGA children 14 . Early intervention programs targeting these problems may support cognitive and language development of children born at VLGA 14 Mothers’ low educational level is a known risk factor for a child's lower academic achievement 29 .…”

“…Both antenatal and neonatal factors may affect delicate processes of brain development among this high‐risk population, thus contributing to deficits in language, memory and learning abilities 11‐13 . White matter damage may disrupt myelination and axonal integrity in developing brain, which further may constitute a basis for problems in language development among children born preterm 14 . Preterm children also maintain atypical bilateral language organisation longer than term‐born controls, which might reflect a delay of neural language organisation due to very premature birth 15 .…”

Developmental Dimensions in Preterm Infants During the 1st Year of Life: The Influence of Severity of Prematurity and Maternal Generalized Anxiety

“…Recent studies and reviews on ELBW or VLBW sequelae report evidence regarding different developmental domains, such as: neurosensory (Marlow et al, 2005;Doyle et al, 2010), motor (Williams et al, 2010;Van Hus et al, 2014;Hughes et al, 2016), linguistic (Reidy et al, 2013;Guarini et al, 2016;Vandormael et al, 2019), personal-social (Montagna and Nosarti, 2016;Caldas et al, 2018), and cognitive (Bhutta et al, 2002;Kerr-Wilson et al, 2012;Sansavini et al, 2015;Stålnacke et al, 2019). However, previous research typically focused on specific and selected areas only, with very few studies considering multiple dimensions in unison (Duncan et al, 2012;Greene et al, 2013;Lobo et al, 2014), finding high prevalence of delays especially in cognitive, language and motor development.…”

Mechanisms of Timing, Timbre, Repertoire, and Entrainment in Neuroplasticity: Mutual Interplay in Neonatal Development

“…This period in the womb is considered to be a critical period for neurodevelopment (Benasich and Ribery, 2018). Vandormael et al (2019) discuss how the ''fine-tuning process takes place in the uterus where both internal (e.g., respiration, heart rhythm, and digestion) and external sounds (e.g., voices and music) can be perceived'' (Vandormael et al, 2019). They also cite significant recent research in numerous NICU conditions showing evidence that too much chaotic noise or not enough sounds, largely people's voices, may have detrimental, or deprived conditions which can show up in delayed language capacity in toddlerhood.…”