Developmental problems and interactions between mothers and prematurely born children

This study explored how the developmental status of 49 3-year-old prematurely born children related to the interactions between these children and their mothers. Two 2-hour observations of mother-child interactions, the Home Observation for Measurement of the Environment (HOME) inventory, a developmental assessment, and Nursing Child Assessment Teaching Scale (NCATS) were scored when the child was 3 years corrected age. The effects of specific developmental problems (cognitive, language, and attention) were examined by comparing subgroups with and without these problems. Children with normal IQs spent less time not playing and scored higher on the NCATS than children with low IQs. Mothers of children with normal IQs scored higher on provision of play materials on the HOME. The mothers of children with language concerns interacted less, talked less, were more negative, and scored lower on the HOME and NCATS than mothers of the children with normal language abilities. Children with attention problems were more active than children with normal attention spans. These findings suggest that mother-child interactions might be useful for identifying children at risk for developmental delay and that interventions with preschool children with developmental delays will probably be more effective if their mothers are helped to provide a more appropriate social environment.