Comparison of language development in term and preterm children with risk indicators for hearing loss

Abstract

Objective: To compare language development in term and preterm infants in the 12th and 24th months of life. Methods: longitudinal study, with follow up of children from the Neonate Intensive Care Unit, without hearing loss at birth, with one or more risk indicators for delayed onset or progressive hearing loss. We used the corrected age for the preterm infants. The children were evaluated with the Early Language Milestone Scale. The parents were informed about how to stimulate the child´s communication. Results: We evaluated 23 (52,27%) term neonates and 21 (47,73%) pre-term neonates in the 12th months. In the 24th month 22 infants returned, 13 (59,10%) term and 9 (40,90%) preterm. At the age of 12 months, 8 (18,18%) infants showed delay in language development, with few oral productions and babbling. By the 24th month of age, three children (13,64%) were still delayed. The statistical analyses did not show association between ELM Scale and the term and preterm groups, in both ages. They showed transitory alterations in oral language development, which became normal in most of the infants after the parents orientation. Conclusions: Term and preterm infants showed a similar behavior in language development by the 12th and 24th months, when the corrected age is used with the preterms. A possible explanation for that is the fact that the parents received orientation about language development.