NICU Parent Education Program

NICU Parent Education Program

The purpose of this study is to adminster one of two education programs to parents of preterm infants in the NICU to evaluate language and cognitive outcomes of their infants.

The long term goal of this research is to determine the language environment necessary in the NICU for very preterm infants to optimize their long-term language and cognitive development. This study will pilot an early language intervention with parents of preterm infants in the NICU the purpose of which is to provide a structured curriculum for the family to guide their language interactions with their infant. The aim is to increase the adult word counts and conversational turns in the NICU and to improve Bayley III language and cognitive scores at 12 months and 24 months corrected age.

The hypotheses is that increasing early language exposure in the NICU will result in improved lanugage and cognitive scores. The investigators plan on testing the hypothesis by the following specific aims.

1. Determine the effectiveness of a structured language curriculum with parents of preterm infants in the NICU on increasing the amount of early language exposure.
2. Test the the hypothesis that increased early language exposure will result in higher Bayley III language and cognitive scores.

Inclusion Criteria:

• Receiving care at Women & Infants' Hospital NICU,
• Providence RI gestational age 23 - 32 weeks,
• RI resident

Exclusion Criteria:

• Unable to understand or speak English,
• congenital or chromosomal disorder likely to affect cognitive or speech development,
• parental loss of custody