A short YouTube video by Ming @ Agents of Speech discussing whether preterm babies/children are at risk for speech and language delays. Ming explains that while some preterm children develop typically, preterm birth increases risk for issues that can affect social interaction, muscle development for speech, and language acquisition, and notes school special-needs programs can help support catch-up.
Preterm babies or preterm children, whether if speech and language would be affected. So the obvious answer is yes, but there are always anomalies, meaning there are people who exist outside of this example. So there are preterm babies who develop speech and language very typically, very step by step, and they don't miss any milestones and so on. That does happen. I've seen it multiple times. But at the same time, because they are preterm, they are at risk for other things. Children who are preterm will be at risk for things outside of speech and language. And those things might, might in turn actually affect their social interaction, number one. Number two is the development of muscles and speech might be affected and in turn will affect their language as well. So let's talk about whether they will catch up or not. Obviously they need some time to catch up, but how long? How do you help with that? Nowadays we have a lot more individual needs or special needs programs in schools, right. That will help a lot in the school setting because someone is actually helping them along the way.
