Examining the Interplay of Sucking, Feeding, and Vocal Development in the First Year of Life

项目总结 言语语言发展的最初几年是为以后的交流奠定基础的阶段 超能力。与早期言语语言发展相吻合的是其他行为的出现，包括 摄食(吮吸、饮用、咀嚼、吞咽)所涉及的复杂的感觉运动过程。即使是喂食 和交流共享相当大的神经资源和肌肉系统，它们之间的联系仍然存在 人们对此知之甚少。先前的经验证据表明，进食和说话在它们的目标上是不同的 和肌肉激活模式。然而，目前还不清楚这些技能的表现和能力如何 在生命的第一年相关，如果一种运动行为的延迟表现为另一种行为的延迟。不是 到目前为止，已有前瞻性研究可用于比较健康早产儿和早产儿的 进食与发声发育的关系。因此，这样做的目的是 应用程序是为了研究吮吸、口腔喂养和声音发育如何在生命的第一年同时发生。在……里面 在拟议的研究中，我们将纵向(在3个月和12个月时)研究两组婴儿 100例：足月儿(50例)和早产儿(胎龄37周；50例)。的目标 拟议的研究是检查通过抽样定量测量的吸吮能力(目标1) 非营养性吸吮(NNS)模式和口腔喂养能力(目标2)，由口腔定量测量 喂养技能(OFS)量表与婴儿出生一年后的发声发展有关。我们还将 根据出生群体比较吸吮、喂奶和发声措施(目标3)。在每一个目标中，宝贝 全天将使用语言环境分析(LENA)系统测量发声 儿童家庭听觉环境的录音。Lena将产生以下措施：发音率， 发声时间百分比、规范音节比率(12个月)和语音清单(12个月)。我们会 也让父母在12岁时完成麦克阿瑟-贝茨沟通发展量表(CDI)的第一部分 月份。我们假设，具有良好模式的NN和成熟的口腔喂养技能的婴儿将有更高的 发音率，发声时间百分比更大，规范音节比率增加，更复杂 语音清单和更高的CDI分数，足月婴儿在这些指标上表现更好。 这项研究的几个特征为确定两者之间的联系提供了前所未有的能力 早期发声行为与发声，包括纵向设计、定量发声 评估结合在婴儿自然环境中收集的行为数据，并比较 这些行为跨越两个队列。这项工作的发现可能会对推进 在言语科学领域，并对临床喂养和言语治疗产生直接影响。更具体地说， 拟议中的研究可能会确定吸吮和喂奶是否可以作为预后指标 声音发育，从而改变临床医生进食、言语评估和治疗的方式。

PROJECT SUMMARY The first few years of speech-language development are formative in setting the stage for later communication abilities. Coinciding with early speech-language development is the emergence of other behaviors, including the complex sensorimotor processes involved in feeding (suck, drink, chew, swallow). Even though feeding and communication share considerable neural resources and muscle systems, the link between them remains poorly understood. Previous empirical evidence suggests that feeding and speech are distinct in their goals and muscle activation patterns. However, it remains unclear how performance and ability on these skills are related in the first year of life and if delays in one oromotor behavior manifest as delays in another. No prospective studies to date are available to compare healthy and preterm infants in regards to mapping the association between feeding and the emergence of vocal development. Therefore, the objective of this application is to examine how sucking, oral feeding, and vocal development co-occur in the first year of life. In the proposed research, we will longitudinally (sessions at 3 and 12 months) study two cohorts of infants (n=100): those born full-term (n=50) and those born preterm (< 37 weeks gestational age; n=50). The goals of the proposed research are to examine whether sucking ability (Aim 1), as measured quantitatively by sampling non-nutritive suck (NNS) patterning, and oral feeding abilities (Aim 2), as measured quantitatively by the Oral Feeding Skills (OFS) scale, are associated with infant vocal development over the first year of life. We will also compare sucking, feeding and vocalization measures based on birth group (Aim 3). In each of the aims, infant vocalizations will be measured using the Language Environment Analysis (LENA) system during full day recordings of the child's home auditory environment. LENA will yield the following measures: vocalization rate, percentage time vocalized, canonical syllable ratios (12 months), and phonetic inventories (12 months). We will also have parents complete Part 1 of the McArthur-Bates Communication Development Inventory (CDI) at 12 months. We hypothesize that infants with well-patterned NNS and mature oral feeding skills will have higher vocalization rate, greater percentage time vocalized, increased canonical syllable ratios, more complex phonetic inventories, and higher CDI scores with full-term infants performing better across these measures. Several features of this study provide an unprecedented level of power for identifying the connection between early oromotor behaviors and vocal emergence, including longitudinal design, quantitative oromotor assessments combined with behavioral data collected in the infant's natural environment, and a comparison of these behaviors across two cohorts. Findings from this work could have broad implications for advancing the field of speech science, and an immediate impact on clinical feeding and speech therapy. More specifically, the proposed studies are likely to determine whether sucking and feeding can be used as a prognostic indicator of vocal development, thereby shifting how clinicians approach feeding and speech assessments and therapies.