Predictive ability of early somatosensory processing in preterm children on later motor development

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Project Summary Children who are born preterm are at a high risk for developing sensorimotor deficits. Though a majority of children born preterm do not have a neuromuscular diagnosis such as cerebral palsy, many have mild to moderate motor delays. These motor delays fall under the diagnosis of developmental coordination disorder or developmental dyspraxia, a condition with difficulties in motor planning and coordination, that is theoretically linked to somatosensory deficits. We hypothesize that deficit in somatosensory processing may precede this diagnosis in preterm children, but these deficits are not identified due to a lack of reliable and valid assessment methods for use with young children. Somatic sensations refer to sensory information from the body, including touch and proprioception. Proprioception -- the sense that lets us know how and where our body is moving -- is considered one of the most important senses for controlling movements. Based on research on motor learning in adults, we know the importance of accurate proprioception information on the control of movements. Difficulties in somatosensory information will impact a developing nervous system’s ability to learn new motor skills. This effect theoretically compounds as the child learns more motor skills with inaccurate somatosensory feedback, laying a poor foundation for further learning. However, our current understanding of how the sensory and motor systems interact in a developing nervous system is limited. The poor understanding of somatosensory in development is in part due to the lack of accurate assessments that measure somatosensory processing in young children. Current somatosensory assessments are limited to clinical observations and parent reports on the child’s behavior, which lack objectivity and do not provide a standard for comparison. Without objective assessments of somatosensory processing in young children, somatosensory processing deficits are often not identified until later in their childhood, when they present with motor delays. We developed and pilot tested innovative methods to measure somatosensory processing in children as young as 1 year old. The overall objectives of this project is to study somatosensory development in young children, develop a method to identify children who have challenges with somatosensory processing, and to examine the predictive relationship between somatosensory processing challenges in early childhood with later motor development. We hypothesize that somatosensory develop play a major role in predicting motor skill development and participation in activities of daily living in children who were born preterm. This study is part of a larger research program that aims to better our understanding of somatosensory development in children. We strive for early identification of children with somatosensory deficits, and to develop targeted interventions for these deficits in children.