Spontaneous speech at 61/2 years of age in children who required neonatal intensive care in 1986-1989

Spontaneous speech at 61/2 y of age was studied in a follow-up of 230 child ren born in 1986-89 who had required neonatal intensive care (NIC) and 71 f ullterm neonatally healthy control children. Eight aspects of spontaneous s peech were examined: Information, speech motor function, sound pattern, wor d finding, word selection, grammar, interaction and motivation. The results were analysed in relation to gestational age groups (group I, 23-31 wk; su bgroup IA, 23-27 wk; IB, 28-31 wk; group II, 32-36 wk; group III, >36 wk) a nd a separate group of children with congenital malformations (IWCM). Betwe en 66.7% (group IA) and 55.7% (group III) had no obvious deviations in any aspect of spontaneous speech compared with 80.3% of controls. Children born at <32 wk of gestation (group I) had few pronounced deviations in speech m otor function or formal aspects of spontaneous speech. No ability, or hardl y any ability, in an aspect of spontaneous speech was only found in childre n born at >32 wk. Deviations in prosody and poor facial expressions accompa nying spontaneous speech were more common in group I than in controls. Conclusion: Most children who needed intensive care neonatally had well-dev eloped spontaneous speech.