Childhood After Preterm Birth: The Preschool Years

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DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): In the past decade, there has been dramatic improvement in the survival rate of infants born preterm - i.e., after a pregnancy of less than 37 weeks. As more of these infants leave the neonatal intensive care unit for home, we are just beginning to recognize the special needs of these young children as infants and toddlers. Parents and early childhood providers (early intervention specialists, daycare providers and early childhood educators, nurses, pediatricians, social workers) can all do a better job if they know what to expect and how to help. In this SBIR project, Vida Health Communications, Inc. will produce, evaluate and distribute a multi-media package, Childhood After Preterm Birth: The First Three Years. The multi-media package will draw on the proven and specific advantages of DVD and web technologies, and will use videotaped encounters with real families. It will consist of three components: (1) A provider training program on DVD will convey information about the likely needs of infants and toddlers who were born preterm in areas such as cognition, visual and motor skills, speech and language, and executive function. It will provide and illustrate effective strategies for providers to use to guide and support the parents. A web-based component will include a test unit offering continuing education credits. (2) A companion DVD program, in Spanish and English, for parents of young children born preterm will explain in lay terms the developmental course of infants and toddlers, and types of special needs that potentially challenge children born preterm. It will also provide and illustrate effective strategies for parents to monitor and enhance their child's development, and to garner appropriate resources for the child's preschool years. (3) An electronic library of materials on CD-ROM and Vida's web site for providers to print and distribute to parents will be suitable for widely varying literacy levels. In Phase I, the producers will develop the content for both the provider and parent programs, and produce prototypes of the media and print materials, which will then be evaluated using focus groups representative of the target audiences. Evaluators will use well-documented qualitative techniques to analyze focus group data. This project will advance the training of early childhood providers serving children with special needs and their families. It will also provide much needed education, at appropriate literacy levels, for parents about ways to prepare for the child's school years. In the past decade, there has been dramatic improvement in the survival rate of infants born well before term - i.e., after a pregnancy of less than 37 weeks. As more of these infants leave the neonatal intensive care unit for home, we are just beginning to recognize the special needs of these young children as infants and toddlers. Parents and early childhood providers (early intervention specialists, daycare providers and early childhood educators, nurses, pediatricians, social workers) can all do a better job if they know what to expect and how to help. This research will contribute to knowledge of how early childhood providers can work with parents of children born preterm, so together they can improve the child's chance of healthy, normal development.