First ever study on preemies’ language
Posted May 9, 2012 1:18 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Believed to be ground-breaking work, a new first of its kind study hopes to provide help to parents of preemies.
The goal is to better pinpoint babies at risk for language delay.
Researchers are studying the language and motor control of children who were born between 28 and 32 weeks of gestation.
Investigators hope the findings will one day help to create a diagnostic test that allows doctors to identify problems earlier in life.
Small censors or reflectors are attached to a child’s forehead, cheeks, arms and stomache to capture their movements to be captured for later study.
Researchers say the quality of the gesture of a child can predict later language.
They say not enough studies for children under the age of 2 are being done.
In 2009, eight per cent of Alberta babies were considered pre-term.
