Background: Studies on typical language development documented that mothers fine-tune their verbal input to children's advancing skills and development. Although premature birth has often been associated with delays in communicative and language development, studies investigating maternal language addressed to these children are still rare. Aims: The principal aim of this longitudinal study was to investigate the maternal speech directed at very preterm children by examining its changes across time and the stability of maternal individual styles. Methods & Procedures: A sample of 16 mother-preterm infant dyads participated in semi-structured play sessions when children were 6, 12, 18 and 24 months of corrected age. Maternal speech directed at the children was analysed in terms of lexical and syntactical complexity as well as verbal productivity. Also children's motor, cognitive and communicative skills were assessed. Outcomes & Results: Results highlight an overall increase in the lexical and syntactical complexity and in the amount of maternal speech across the first years of life. At the same time, individual maternal communicative styles seem stable as infants grow older, even if between 12 and 18 months all the indices' predictive values decrease, indicating a noteworthy modification in individual maternal styles. Furthermore, between 12 and 18 months predictive relationships between children's motor and vocal skills and maternal changes in input were found. Conclusions & Implications: Verbal input addressed to children born preterm during the first 2 years of life does not seem to differ considerably from the language usually used with full-term infants. Nevertheless, maternal verbal adjustments seem to be predicted by earlier infant achievements in vocal and motor development. This suggests that infants' motor skill maturation may function as a major signal for mothers of preterm babies to adjust aspects of their linguistic interactive style. © 2011 Royal College of Speech & Language Therapists.

Suttora, C., Salerni, N. (2011). Maternal speech to preterm infants during the two years of life: stability and change. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF LANGUAGE & COMMUNICATION DISORDERS, 46(4), 464-472 [10.1111/j.1460-6984.2011.00007.x].

Maternal speech to preterm infants during the two years of life: stability and change

SUTTORA, CHIARA;SALERNI, NICOLETTA
2011

Abstract

Background: Studies on typical language development documented that mothers fine-tune their verbal input to children's advancing skills and development. Although premature birth has often been associated with delays in communicative and language development, studies investigating maternal language addressed to these children are still rare. Aims: The principal aim of this longitudinal study was to investigate the maternal speech directed at very preterm children by examining its changes across time and the stability of maternal individual styles. Methods & Procedures: A sample of 16 mother-preterm infant dyads participated in semi-structured play sessions when children were 6, 12, 18 and 24 months of corrected age. Maternal speech directed at the children was analysed in terms of lexical and syntactical complexity as well as verbal productivity. Also children's motor, cognitive and communicative skills were assessed. Outcomes & Results: Results highlight an overall increase in the lexical and syntactical complexity and in the amount of maternal speech across the first years of life. At the same time, individual maternal communicative styles seem stable as infants grow older, even if between 12 and 18 months all the indices' predictive values decrease, indicating a noteworthy modification in individual maternal styles. Furthermore, between 12 and 18 months predictive relationships between children's motor and vocal skills and maternal changes in input were found. Conclusions & Implications: Verbal input addressed to children born preterm during the first 2 years of life does not seem to differ considerably from the language usually used with full-term infants. Nevertheless, maternal verbal adjustments seem to be predicted by earlier infant achievements in vocal and motor development. This suggests that infants' motor skill maturation may function as a major signal for mothers of preterm babies to adjust aspects of their linguistic interactive style. © 2011 Royal College of Speech & Language Therapists.
Articolo in rivista - Articolo scientifico
premature birth; infant-directed speech; interaction
English
2011
46
4
464
472
none
Suttora, C., Salerni, N. (2011). Maternal speech to preterm infants during the two years of life: stability and change. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF LANGUAGE & COMMUNICATION DISORDERS, 46(4), 464-472 [10.1111/j.1460-6984.2011.00007.x].
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/10281/26380
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