Latent motor growth trajectories of term and preterm infants based on caregiver report.

Early motor development is a key predictor of development in other skill domains and specific neurodevelopmental disorders, but it is typically measured as achievement of milestones rather than rate of development. To explore the value of the latter approach, this study utilized a novel caregiver report method to examine differences in the developmental trajectory of motor development in term-born compared to preterm-born infants. Caregiver-infant dyads (331 term, 240 preterm) were followed from birth through 12 months (48% female; 6.

Convergent Validity Between the Motor Domain of PediaTrac and in Term and Preterm Infants at 2, 4, 6, and 9 Months of Age.

The primary aim of this study was to evaluate the convergent validity of the Motor domain (MOT) of PediaTrac v3.0, an online developmental tracking instrument based on caregiver reports, with fine and gross motor domains (ASQ-FM and ASQ-GM) of the Ages and Stages Questionnaire (ASQ-3) in infants between 2- and 9 months of age. Participants were caregivers of 571 infants born term or preterm (gestational age <37 weeks) enrolled in a multi-site psychometric study of PediaTrac.

Measuring Early Relational Health Using PediaTrac TM in a Diverse Sample of Infant-Caregiver Dyads.

Objective: Early relational health (ERH) is a key developmental predictor and outcome in infancy and early childhood that reflects social-emotional well-being and promotes resilience throughout childhood. Currently, there is no gold-standard developmental screening tool for ERH in pediatric care settings. This study examined the psychometric properties of items assessing ERH that are part of a web-based, caregiver-report screening tool called PediaTrac TM .

[Formula: see text] Caregiver-reported infant motor and imitation skills predict M-CHAT-R/F.

Altered motor and social-communicative abilities in infancy have been linked to later ASD diagnosis. Most diagnostic instruments for ASD cannot be utilized until 12 months, and the average child is diagnosed substantially later. Imitation combines motor and social-communicative skills and is commonly atypical in infants at risk for ASD.

Longitudinal caregiver-reported motor development in infants born at term and preterm.

Aim: To examine the extent to which estimates of a latent trait or underlying construct of motor ability differ in infants born at term and preterm, based on caregiver ratings of the motor domain of PediaTrac v3.0.

Method: The sample consisted of 571 caregiver-infant dyads (331 born at term, 240 born preterm), 48% female, with 51.

Caregiver-reported development in term and preterm infants from birth to nine months of age: Psychometrics of the PediaTracTM social/communication/cognition domain.

Term and preterm neonates were assessed at the newborn (NB) period (term, term equivalent) and at 2, 4, 6, and 9 months in a study of the psychometric properties of the Social/Communication/Cognition (SCG) domain of PediaTrac™ v3.0, a novel caregiver-based developmental monitoring instrument. Item response theory (IRT) was used to model item parameters and estimate theta, an index of the latent trait, social/communication/cognition.

The influence of sociodemographic factors and response style on caregiver report of infant developmental status.

Caregiver report is the most feasible way to assess early childhood development but is susceptible to the influences of response style and sociodemographic factors. In a sample of 571 caregiver-infant dyads (47.8% female; 48% White), we compared caregiver reports on the Ages and Stages Questionnaire-Third Edition (ASQ-3) with reports on a novel, web-based assessment, PediaTrac™.

Longitudinal changes in term and preterm infant night wakings: The role of caregiver anxious-depression.

Changes in infant night waking during the first year of life are associated with individual (e.g., prematurity) and family (e.

Motor networks in children with autism spectrum disorder: a systematic review on EEG studies.

Motor disturbance and altered motor networks are commonly reported in individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). It has been suggested that electroencephalogram (EEG) can be used to provide exquisite temporal resolution for understanding motor control processes in ASD. However, the variability of study design and EEG approaches can impact our interpretation.

Caregiver-reported newborn term and preterm motor abilities: psychometrics of the PediaTrac Motor domain.

Background: Approximately 5-10% of children exhibit developmental deviations in motor skills or other domains; however, physicians detect less than one-third of these abnormalities. Systematic tracking and early identification of motor deviations are fundamental for timely intervention.

Methods: Term and preterm neonates were prospectively assessed at the newborn (NB) period in a study of the psychometric properties of the Motor (MOT) domain of PediaTrac v3.

Cumulative risk, infant sleep, and infant social-emotional development.

The effect of cumulative biological, psychosocial, and demographic risk and infant sleep on infant social-emotional functioning in 12-month-old infants (46% female) was examined in data from racially (30% Black, 60% White, 10% multiracial/other) and socioeconomically (41% below median income) diverse caregivers (N = 468, M = 30.42 years old, SD = 5.65) recruited from two midwestern states in 2019-2020.

PediaTrac V.3.0 protocol: a prospective, longitudinal study of the development and validation of a web-based tool to measure and track infant and toddler development from birth through 18 months.

Introduction: The need for an efficient, low-cost, comprehensive measure to track infant/toddler development and treatment outcomes is critical, given the importance of early detection and monitoring. This manuscript describes the protocol for the development and testing of a novel measure, PediaTrac, that collects longitudinal, prospective, multidomain data from parents/caregivers to characterise infant/toddler developmental trajectories in term and preterm infants. PediaTrac, a web-based measure, has the potential to become the standard method for monitoring development and detecting risk in infancy and toddlerhood.

The error-related negativity as a neuromarker of risk or resilience in young children.

Introduction: The error-related negativity (ERN) is a neural response that reflects error monitoring. Contradictorily, an enlarged (more negative) ERN has been cited as both a risk factor and a protective factor, which hinders its utility as a predictive indicator. The aim of the current study was to examine the associations between ERN measured in early childhood with the development of cognitive control (CC), emotion regulation, and internalizing/externalizing symptoms over 1-2 years.

Predictive Processing during a Naturalistic Statistical Learning Task in ASD.

Children's sensitivity to regularities within the linguistic stream, such as the likelihood that syllables co-occur, is foundational to speech segmentation and language acquisition. Yet, little is known about the neurocognitive mechanisms underlying speech segmentation in typical development and in neurodevelopmental disorders that impact language acquisition such as autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Here, we investigate the neural signals of statistical learning in 15 human participants (children ages 8-12) with a clinical diagnosis of ASD and 14 age-matched and gender-matched typically developing peers.

Language Mapping With Magnetoencephalography: An Update on the Current State of Clinical Research and Practice With Considerations for Clinical Practice Guidelines.

Numerous studies have shown that language processing is not limited to a few brain areas. Visual or auditory stimuli activate corresponding cortical areas, then memory identifies the word or image, Wernicke's and Broca's areas support the processing for either reading/listening or speaking and many areas of the brain are recruited. Determining how a normal person processes language helps clinicians and scientist to understand how brain pathologies such as tumor or stroke can affect changes in language processing.

Development and validation of PediaTrac™: A web-based tool to track developing infants.

Objective: PediaTrac™, a 363-item web-based tool to track infant development, administered in modules of ∼40-items per sampling period, newborn (NB), 2--, 4--, 6--, 9-- and 12--months was validated. Caregivers answered demographic, medical, and environmental questions, and questions covering the sensorimotor, feeding/eating, sleep, speech/language, cognition, social-emotional, and attachment domains.

Methods: Expert Panel Reviews and Cognitive Interviews (CI) were conducted to validate the item bank.

Potential Role of Cortisol in Social and Memory Impairments in Individuals with 22q11.2 Deletion Syndrome.

22q11.2 Deletion syndrome is a genetic disorder characterized by physiological and psychological symptoms. This study investigated the role of cortisol on the social and cognitive impairments in children with 22q11.

Magnetoencephalography shows atypical sensitivity to linguistic sound sequences in autism spectrum disorder.

Neuroscientific evidence points toward atypical auditory processing in individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD), and yet, the consequences of this for receptive language remain unclear. Using magnetoencephalography and a passive listening task, we test for cascading effects on speech sound processing. Children with ASD and age-matched control participants (8-12 years old) listened to nonce linguistic stimuli that either did or did not conform to the phonological rules that govern consonant sequences in English (e.

Visual attention shifting in autism spectrum disorders.

Introduction: Abnormal visual attention has been frequently observed in autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Abnormal shifting of visual attention is related to abnormal development of social cognition and has been identified as a key neuropsychological finding in ASD. Better characterizing attention shifting in ASD and its relationship with social functioning may help to identify new targets for intervention and improving social communication in these disorders.

Multimodal imaging of temporal processing in typical and atypical language development.

New approaches to understanding language and reading acquisition propose that the human brain's ability to synchronize its neural firing rate to syllable-length linguistic units may be important to children's ability to acquire human language. Yet, little evidence from brain imaging studies has been available to support this proposal. Here, we summarize three recent brain imaging (functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS), functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), and magnetoencephalography (MEG)) studies from our laboratories with young English-speaking children (aged 6-12 years).

Neural synchrony examined with magnetoencephalography (MEG) during eye gaze processing in autism spectrum disorders: preliminary findings.

Background: Gaze processing deficits are a seminal, early, and enduring behavioral deficit in autism spectrum disorder (ASD); however, a comprehensive characterization of the neural processes mediating abnormal gaze processing in ASD has yet to be conducted.

Methods: This study investigated whole-brain patterns of neural synchrony during passive viewing of direct and averted eye gaze in ASD adolescents and young adults (M Age  = 16.6) compared to neurotypicals (NT) (M Age  = 17.

Aggregating validity indicators embedded in Conners' CPT-II outperforms individual cutoffs at separating valid from invalid performance in adults with traumatic brain injury.

Continuous performance tests (CPT) provide a useful paradigm to assess vigilance and sustained attention. However, few established methods exist to assess the validity of a given response set. The present study examined embedded validity indicators (EVIs) previously found effective at dissociating valid from invalid performance in relation to well-established performance validity tests in 104 adults with TBI referred for neuropsychological testing.

Time-related changes in Conners' CPT-II scores: a replication study.

The objective of this study was to replicate an earlier study on the effect of the administration sequence on Conners' Continuous Performance Test-Second Edition (CPT-II) scores (Erdodi, Lajiness-O'Neill, & Saules, 2010 ). Participants were recruited at a university training clinic (13 males, 12 females; M(age) = 26.7 years, SD = 13.

Impaired prefrontal gamma band synchrony in autism spectrum disorders during gaze cueing.

Orienting to eye gaze is a vital social skill that is absent or developmentally delayed in autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Neural synchrony in the gamma frequency band is believed to be involved in perceptual and cognitive functions such as eye-gaze processing, and has been found to be abnormal in ASD. The current study used magnetoencephalography to measure neural synchrony in the gamma frequency band in neurotypicals (n=8) and individuals with ASD (n=10) while performing a directional eye-gaze processing task.