Temperament and Early Communication in Premature Children.

<p>Premature children are at greater risk for developing communication delays than full-term children, although it is not inevitable. Recent research links specific temperament characteristics to early language development. Thus, temperament may provide a way to identify premature children who are at increased risk. The first purpose of this study was to determine if temperament characteristics of premature children are the same as full-term children when measured by the <em>Infant Behavior Questionnaire-Revised</em>. The second purpose was to determine if temperament and language acquisition, as measured by the <em>MacArthur Communicative Development Inventory: Words and Gestures</em>, are linked in premature infants and, if so, are the relationships similar to those of full-term populations. Participants included 19 children 8-12 months, chronological age. Results indicated that they exhibited similar temperament characteristics to full-term children. Additionally, temperament was linked to vocabulary comprehension and, unlike findings for full-term children, to expressive communication as well</p>.

Name thesis:degree_name

MS (Master of Science)

Level thesis:degree_level

Thesis - unrestricted

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Communicative Disorders

Year dc:date.issued

2007

Author dc:creator

• King, Nina

• Temperament
• Prematurity
• Language Acquisition
• Communication Sciences and Disorders
• Medicine and Health Sciences
• Speech and Hearing Science

Statement dc:rights

• Copyright by the authors.

Repository record dc:identifier

https://dc.etsu.edu/etd/2091

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dc.etsu.edu:etd-3452