Prediction of participation and sensory modulation of late preterm infants at 12 months: a prospective study.

Boets et al. (2011) followed late preterm babies until their first birthday. They wanted to know if these babies had more trouble handling sights, sounds, and touch than full-term babies.

Parents filled out two checklists about daily play and sensory reactions. The team compared the late preterm group to a same-aged term group.

At 12 months, the late preterm babies scored lower on both checklists. They showed weaker sensory modulation and joined fewer everyday activities.

The gap was big enough to flag them for extra watch, even though none had a diagnosed disability yet.

Cabral et al. (2015) extends this picture. They saw that preterm babies who disliked deep touch or had floppy posture at 4–6 months later landed in the bottom 5 % on motor scores. Together the studies trace a line: early sensory quirks can snowball into movement and participation problems.

Germani et al. (2014) looked at a different risk group—infants who later got an ASD diagnosis. They also found low sensory registration and auditory issues at 24 months. The pattern is similar: babies who miss or overreact to sensory input do less in daily life, no matter the root risk.

Payne et al. (2020) add Down syndrome infants to the story. They showed that sensory and motor delays drag down goal-directed play as early as 7.5 months. Across three diagnoses—late preterm, ASD, Down—the timeline is the same: sensory processing slips first, then participation drops.

If you serve babies born even a few weeks early, add a quick sensory screen around the first birthday. A low score is a red flag before delays show up in motor or language milestones. Pair the screen with parent coaching on play routines that give controlled touch, sound, and movement. Catching the slump early lets you shape the environment before gaps widen.