Language development of low risk preterm infants up to the age of 30 months

•Low risk preterm toddlers do not seem to be delayed in their linguistic development.•GA does not seem to have any significant predictive effect on language scores.•The effect of gestures and word comprehension on word production disappears with time.•Later language is mostly explained by previous cognitive and linguistic scores.

PurposeTo compare the lexical and grammatical development of a group of low risk preterm children with a group of full-term children at 10, 22, and 30 months of corrected age. In addition, the effect of possible determinant factors on linguistic development was investigated.MethodAn initial group of 150 low-risk PR children (mean GA: 32.62) and 49 FT children (mean GA: 39.70) recruited at birth were assessed at 10, 22, and 30 months of age. Communicative and linguistic abilities were measured at these three points in time through the CDI. Cognitive development and quality of family environment of the children, among other variables, were also assessed at 22 months of age. Hierarchical regression analyses were performed in order to test those factors which may contribute to prediction of language outcomes.ResultsThere was no significant delay in communicative, lexical or grammatical development of PR children. Even when comparisons were performed between fullterm and very preterm children, differences were not significant.Regression analyses indicate that gestures and early word comprehension predict very early word production development, but their effect disappears with time. The most important factors which predict language development at 30 months of age are previous cognitive scores and word production at 22 months of age. The results coming from group comparisons and from hierarchical regression analyses indicate that GA does not significantly affect language development from 10 to 30 months of age.ConclusionsLow risk preterm toddlers do not seem to be delayed in their linguistic development.