This study treats the child's vocal and rhythmic development immediately subsequent to birth and forward, and shows how this development relates to musical learning. (Author)

Recent neuropathology studies identify hypoxia as the main cause of perinatal cerebral damage. Cerebral lesions present at birth, with transition to chronic scar lesions, are correlated to mental retardation, cerebral palsy, epilepsy, and minimal brain dysfunction. Gestation age and severity of hypoxic exposure essentially determine the cerebral…

Determines the frequency distribution of Brainstem Auditory Evoked Potential variables (BAEP) for premature babies at different stages of development--normal newborns, infants, young children, and adults. The author concludes that the assumption of normality underlying most "standard" statistical analyses can be met for many BAEP…

Determined whether individual neonate characteristics could be detected and reliably measured in preterm infants. Results showed that preterms were highly self-consistent in their reactions to stimuli from neurobehavioral assessments. Highly reliable individual differences among infants were also seen. Individual consistencies and differences in…

This article summarizes the early development of the visual system within the context of the other sensory systems and preterm birth and relates this information to early intervention. Retinopathy of prematurely, ocular defects, cortical visual impairment and potential impact of the neonatal intensive care unit environment are discussed. (Contains…

Studies the ability of 14 Down's Syndrome infants and 14 preterm infants aged 12 months to attend to and explore their environment in interactions with their mothers. Results indicate that mothers used different attention-directing strategies and that strategies used were differentially related to the child's attentional capacity. (RJC)

A randomized clinical trial procedure was used at eight program sites to determine the impact of the Infant Health and Development Program (IHDP), a parental education and support and child care program, on the home environment of 985 infants. Differences favoring intervention were apparent at three years, suggesting favorable program impact. (SLD)

This article reviews experimental studies of home-based early interventions for infants at biological risk and their families. The paper presents a description of developmental interventions in intensive care nurseries, a rationale for continuing developmental interventions (in particular, home-based services), and implications for early…

Discharging the premature infant from the hospital calls for provision of support to families in such areas as capitalizing on family strengths and resources, empowering parents to make informed decisions, creating opportunities for parent-to-parent contact, focusing intervention goals on parent-identified needs, and providing services to families…

Examines exhibits and discourses about three prominent groups of disabilities at the 1904 World's Fair: individuals with blindness or deafness; individuals with mental retardation; and babies who were premature. The identification of disabled who could improve and the use of education and science to control disabled are discussed. (CR)

Examines the relationship and predictive power of the Early Language Milestone Scale-2 (ELM-2)and the Bayley Scales of Infant Development-II (BSID-II). Both scales were administered to 90 infants at risk for developmental delay due to prematurity and low birth weight. Results of the ELM-2 correlated with BSID-II scores of infants 12 months of age.…

The impact of premature birth on associative learning was evaluated using simple delay eyeblink conditioning in which a tone conditional stimulus was paired with an air puff unconditional stimulus. Fourteen preterm (28-31 weeks gestation) and 11 full-term infants completed at least 3 conditioning sessions, 1 week apart, at 5 months of age…

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine the test-retest and inter-rater reliability of a measure of muscle extensibility developed by Tardieu, de la Tour, Bret, and Tardieu (1982) in fullterm and preterm newborns. Method: Twenty-one fullterm infants and twenty preterm infants were examined by two physical therapists. Each physical…

Prematurity and low birth weight (LBW) are two major biological factors that put infants and young children at high risk for developmental delays or disabilities. While survival rates for premature and LBW children have improved, incidence figures have changed little over the past 20 years; in fact, the incidence of LBW has increased. Although the…