Cognitive correlates in toddlers born very low birth weight and full-term.

Understanding what contributes to children's cognitive development can improve our ability to identify those children at risk for later developmental disorders. We hypothesized that cognition would be more strongly associated with child and mother interaction variables such as communication, sensitivity and affect during play in contrast to medical variables in preterm children, and that these same variables would also be correlates of cognition in children born full-term. Cognition was measured by the Bayley Scales of Infant Development-II Mental Developmental Index and mother-toddler play interactions were coded with the Caregiver-Child Affect, Responsiveness and Engagement Scales (C-CARES) for child and mother affect, communication, and sensitivity in 40 very low birth weight (VLBW) and 54 full-term toddlers at 18-22 months of age, adjusted for gestational age. Two different multivariate models were identified that best predicted cognition in the two sets of toddlers. For the toddlers born VLBW, days on ventilation, maternal education and the three C-CARES Child Play scales (sensitivity, affect and communication) were the best predictors of cognition. In contrast, the multivariate model that best correlated with cognition for the children born full-term included the Maternal Communication scale of the C-CARES. The different multivariate models identified for toddlers born preterm compared to those born full-term emphasizes the importance of using identification and cognitive intervention techniques that are uniquely tailored for children born very low birth weight. Findings highlight the importance of investigating beyond more traditional measures of cognition by incorporating play-based socio-emotional measures.