On- and Off-line Measures of Language Development in Preterm Children

In a typical session, the investigators video-record your child participating in one or more engaging activities with you and/or a member of the staff.

• In one type of task, your child looks at colorful pictures on a video screen while listening to recorded speech referring to the pictures. The investigators may vary factors in the speech stimuli such as word familiarity or sentence structure to learn more about the development of language understanding. Your child is seated on your lap throughout the session. From the video record, the investigators can later look at your child's gaze patterns in response to speech.
• In another type of task, the investigators observe children interacting with a staff member in the playroom. In these game-like activities, your child may be asked to play with toys, name or point to pictures, repeat sequences of words or sentences, tell stories, imitate hand movements, or solve puzzles. These observations help the investigators understand how language development relates to other types of cognitive activities in children at different ages.
• In a third type of task, the investigators observe how children interact spontaneously in a less structured situation. In some cases, the investigators observe you as you play with your child in a playroom. The investigators will provide you with a selection of toys appropriate to your child's age, and ask you to engage with your child as you would at home. From these observations, the investigators learn how children at different ages respond to language in the context of social interaction.

The investigators may also collect a language questionnaire and similar forms containing basic information about your child's development. Additionally, the investigators may review your child's medical records, including ultrasounds and MRI scans, to gain a better understanding of your child's medical history. All information is used for purposes of basic research on language learning only, and will not constitute a clinical assessment or evaluation.

TIME INVOLVEMENT

In this longitudinal study, each child is expected to come for a total of 12-16 sessions of behavioral testing, spread out over 3 years. Children are tested in 2 sessions (sessions occur approximately one week apart) at ages 18 (chronological), 18 (adjusted; applicable to pre-terms), 24, 30, 36, 42, 48, and 54 months. Each session typically lasts from 30 to 60 minutes, depending on the age of the child and number of breaks taken.