Spatial language development in preterm and full-term infants: The role of object exploration and parents' spatial input

Through object exploration, infants learn features about objects, which is related to children's language learning. Object exploration and parents' verbal spatial input may lead to cascades for the development of spatial language that can differ for preterm infants and full-term infants. This longitudinal study examined whether object exploration at 14 months and parents' spatial input at 14 (Time 1) and 19 (Time 2) months were related to spatial language in preterm (Mean gestational age = 30 weeks) and full-term infants (Mean gestational age = 38.9 weeks) at 26 months. The object exploration at Time 1 and parents' spatial input at Times 1 & 2 were coded from the free play sessions. We expected that preterm infants would receive less spatial input from their parents compared to full-term infants and they would explore the objects less than full-term infants. Additionally, object exploration was associated with parents' spatial input and together they predicted children's spatial language, providing developmental cascades. Our results showed that there was no difference for object exploration and parents' spatial input based on neonatal condition. Object exploration was not uniquely associated with parents' spatial input, controlling for age and neonatal condition. However, we found that the interaction between object exploration and parents' spatial input at 14 months predicted spatial language at 26 months, regardless of neonatal status. These findings suggest that object exploration and parents' spatial input lead to a cascading effect on the development of spatial language at younger ages for preterm and full-term children.