Paths of cognitive and language development in healthy preterm infants

Preterm birth is followed by poorer cognitive and language outcomes during infancy than full-term birth. Age correction of prematurity is useful if the child is under 2 years of age; however, our findings raise concerns about the need for age correction, considering that at later ages, healthy preterm children have a higher rate of developmental delay compared with term infants. With regard to cognitive development, preterm children seem to recover from their initial disadvantage; however, with regard to linguistic development, data confirm that preterm infants are at risk for language difficulties.