Early communicative behaviors and their relationship to motor skills in extremely preterm infants.
Extremely preterm babies gesture less and move their hands worse than full-term peers, and the two skills rise together.
01Research in Context
What this study did
The team watched 12-month-old ELGA infants and full-term babies play. ELGA means extremely low gestational age—born more than three months early.
They counted how often each baby pointed, waved, or gave toys. They also scored fine motor moves like picking up a pea.
What they found
ELGA babies made far fewer gestures than full-term peers. Their fine motor scores were lower too.
In the ELGA group, babies who moved their hands better also gestured more often.
How this fits with other research
Adi-Japha et al. (2011) saw the same link in older kids. Kindergarten children with language delays needed extra weeks to lock in new motor skills.
Provost et al. (2007) widened the picture. Toddlers with autism or any developmental delay showed matching motor lags, so the gesture-motor tie crosses labels.
Kremkow et al. (2022) looked at Rett infants and also found fewer early sounds. The cause differs—Rett versus prematurity—but both papers flag weak baby communication before the first birthday.
Why it matters
If you serve preterm babies, track both hand skills and gestures. A low gesture count can signal fine motor trouble. Pair oral-motor and gesture goals. Use toys that reward finger strength and intentional pointing in the same game.
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Join Free →During play, tally baby’s points and grasps for five minutes—if either is low, add fine-motor toys and hand-over-hand pointing trials.
02At a glance
03Original abstract
Despite the predictive value of early spontaneous communication for identifying risk for later language concerns, very little research has focused on these behaviors in extremely low-gestational-age infants (ELGA<28 weeks) or on their relationship with motor development. In this study, communicative behaviors (gestures, vocal utterances and their coordination) were evaluated during mother-infant play interactions in 20 ELGA infants and 20 full-term infants (FT) at 12 months (corrected age for ELGA infants). Relationships between gestures and motor skills, evaluated using the Bayley-III Scales were also examined. ELGA infants, compared with FT infants, showed less advanced communicative, motor, and cognitive skills. Giving and representational gestures were produced at a lower rate by ELGA infants. In addition, pointing gestures and words were produced by a lower percentage of ELGA infants. Significant positive correlations between gestures (pointing and representational gestures) and fine motor skills were found in the ELGA group. We discuss the relevance of examining spontaneous communicative behaviors and motor skills as potential indices of early development that may be useful for clinical assessment and intervention with ELGA infants.
Research in developmental disabilities, 2016 · doi:10.1016/j.ridd.2015.10.017