Purpose: Although genetic factors are known to play a causal role in specific language impairment (SLI), environmental factors may also be important. This study examined whether there are prenatal, perinatal, and neonatal factors that are associated with childhood SLI. Method: Participants were members of the Raine Study, a prospective cohort…

Exposure to stress early in life permanently shapes activity of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenocortical (HPA) axis and the brain. Prenatally, glucocorticoids pass through the placenta to the fetus with postnatal impacts on brain development, birth weight (BW), and HPA axis functioning. Little is known about the biological mechanisms by which…

To promote prenatal health and improve birth outcomes, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) developed the Strong Start for Mothers and Newborns initiative. The Strong Start initiative is assessing several enhanced prenatal care approaches, including home visiting. As part of the Strong Start initiative, CMS, in partnership with the…

This study evaluated whether olfactory preconditioning is functional in newborn rabbits and based on joined or independent memory of odorants. First, after exposure to odorants A+B, the conditioning of A led to high responsiveness to odorant B. Second, responsiveness to B persisted after amnesia of A. Third, preconditioning was also functional…

Newborn screening (NBS) is a public health program aimed at identifying treatable conditions in presymptomatic newborns to avoid premature mortality, morbidity, and disabilities. Currently, every newborn in the Unites States is screened for at least 29 conditions where evidence suggests that early detection is possible and beneficial. With new or…

Despite growing concern about substance misuse in pregnancy and infants born substance-exposed, few programs have been developed that address the complex needs of this vulnerable population. This article describes the process of developing Project NESST® (Newborns Exposed to Substances: Support and Therapy), from needs assessment to program…

Introduction: Intellectual disability (ID) is characterized by limitations in cognitive and adaptive functioning. The aim of this study is to examine sociodemographic characteristics, perinatal and childhood risk factors, and prevalence of psychiatric and biomedical comorbidities in children with ID. Methods: 260 patients with ID were included in…

The Division for Early Childhood (DEC) of the Council for Exceptional Children (CEC) endorses the development of national guidelines for the identification and eligibility for Part C, states early intervention (EI) system for children born low birth weight (LBW) and/or preterm in the United States. Children born early typically spend their first…

This study investigated processing of number and extent in newborns. Using visual preference, we showed that newborns discriminated between small sets of dot collections relying solely on implicit numerical information when non-numerical continuous variables were strictly controlled (Experiment 1), and solely on continuous information when…

Infants are born primed to develop attachment relationships. However, when infants are hospitalized in the neonatal intensive care unit at birth, the stress and trauma associated with the highly specialized medical environment can threaten the development of a nurturing and secure caregiving relationship. Infant mental health is an evidence-based…

Aquatic therapy has long been highlighted in the literature as a potentially powerful therapeutic intervention. This review will highlight basic definitions of aquatic therapy, review salient research, and identify specific diagnoses that may benefit from aquatic therapy. Online resources, blogs, and books that occupational therapists may find…

Objectives: The objectives of this study are to: (1) document prevalence of food insecurity among pregnant adolescents; (2) determine if food insecurity is associated with adverse birth outcomes (i.e., lower birth weight, earlier gestational age) among their newborns; and (3) examine whether depressive symptoms, anxiety, nutrition and/or weight…

Although a large body of evidence has accumulated on the young human infant's ability to imitate, the phenomenon has failed to gain unanimous acceptance. Imitation of tongue protrusion, the most tested gesture to date, was examined in a sample of 115 newborns in the first 5 days of life in 3 seating positions. An ethologically based…

Faces are visually attractive to both human and nonhuman primates. Human neonates are thought to have a broad template for faces at birth and prefer face-like to non-face-like stimuli. To better compare developmental trajectories of face processing phylogenetically, here, we investigated preferences for face-like stimuli in infant rhesus macaques…

Perception of mechanical (i.e. physical) causality, in terms of a cause-effect relationship between two motion events, appears to be a powerful mechanism in our daily experience. In spite of a growing interest in the earliest causal representations, the role of experience in the origin of this sensitivity is still a matter of dispute. Here, we…