A longitudinal investigation of the early thinking and language of children born small-for-gestational-age

The goal was to examine the relationship between early risk factors and the cognitive and language skills of children born small-for-gestational-age (SGA). Ten children born SGA with small head circumference (SH) and sixteen children born SGA with normal head circumference (NH) were matched with control children and their performance on standardized mental ability and language tests and experimental language and nonverbal conceptual measures was examined at 32 and 44 months.;The low cognitive and language performance of the SH and NH groups did not appear related to social or educational factors. Certain etiologic factors among the SGA subgroups may have been associated with low performance on the cognitive and language measures at 44 months. Pregnancy risk factors, and male gender were associated with low performance of the 26 children in the SGA group on the mental ability and language measures. These risk factors as well as discordant twin growth and a low Apgar score were associated with the ten lowest individual performers (6 SH and 4 NH) on the standardized cognitive and language tests.;The findings from this study suggest that it is important to look at early growth patterns in identifying children at risk. However, a careful analysis of specific etiologic factors associated with poor group and individual performance across cognitive and language measures may provide more complete information about children born SGA who may be at risk for later learning and language problems.;The children in both SGA subgroups tended to score lower than their controls on the cognitive and language tests, and the language-based categorization measures at both ages. The SH group performed significantly lower than controls on the WPPSI-R Full and Performance Scales at 44 months and one language scale at 32 months. The NH group performed significantly lower than controls on the Bayley at 32 months and the WPPSI-R Full and Verbal Scales at 44 months and one language scale at each age. The SH group also tended to perform lower than the NH group on the cognitive and language measures; however, these differences were significant for only one language scale at each age.