One-year outcome of auditory-tactile-visual-vestibular intervention in the neonatal intensive care unit: effects of severe prematurity and central nervous system injury.

Thirty-seven infants with severe central nervous system injury or extreme prematurity were randomly assigned to a multisensory (auditory-tactile-visual-vestibular) intervention or control group. Intervention began in the hospital at 33 weeks' postconceptional age and continued twice daily in the home until 2 months' corrected age. Mother-infant interactions during feedings were videotaped, and the Bayley Scales of Infant Development were administered. Control mothers stimulated their infants more during feeding, but these significant differences dissipated by 4 months. The presence of periventricular leukomalacia was associated with significantly poorer mental development, regardless of group assignment. Experimental infants tended to exhibit better motor and mental performance and had 23% fewer cerebral palsy diagnoses at 1 year, but these trends were not statistically significant. The type of brain injury was more important in determining 1-year developmental outcome than type of postnatal experience, suggesting that periventricular leukomalacia presents a major challenge for infant development.