title: Early vocalization of preterm infants with extremely low birth weight (ELBW), Part II: From canonical babbling up to the appearance of the first word.
abstract: The aim of this study was to systematically describe the preverbal development of preterm infants from canonical babbling up to the first word and to compare it with that of healthy full-term infants. In addition, the amount of vocalization between the preterm and full-term groups was compared. The sample consisted of 18 preterm infants with extremely low birth weight and 11 full-term infants. The development of preverbal vocalization before variegated babbling did not differ between the groups. Instead, the preterm infants failed to produce more different kinds of canonical syllable types than the full-term infants. However, they showed a larger variance of variegated babbling skills and remained in the babbling phase longer before reaching the first meaningful word compared with the full-term infants. Following the onset of canonical babbling, the preterm infants produced fewer vocalizations than the full-term infants and they reached the first word later than the full-term infants.
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Humanities, Logopedics, Department of Mathematical Sciences/IT Administration Services, University of Oulu, and Department of Paediatrics and Adolescence, Oulu University Hospital, Oulu, Finland. helena.torola@oulu.fi
authors.forename: Helena
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Törölä
authors.forename: Matti
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Lehtihalmes
authors.forename: Hanna
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Heikkinen
authors.forename: Päivi
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Olsén
authors.forename: Anneli
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Yliherva
mesh_terms: D002663:Child Language; D005260:Female; D005865:Gestational Age; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D052577:Infant, Extremely Low Birth Weight; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007804:Language Development; D007805:Language Development Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis; D008297:Male; D010699:Phonation; D012016:Reference Values; D013060:Speech; D014705:Verbal Behavior; D014741:Video Recording