Language lateralization in very preterm children: associating dichotic listening to interhemispheric connectivity and language performance.

Background: Language difficulties of very preterm (VPT) children might be related to weaker cerebral hemispheric lateralization of language. Language lateralization refers to the development of an expert region for language processing in the left hemisphere during the first years of life. Children born VPT might not develop such a dominant left hemisphere for language processing.

Cerebellar volumes and language functions in school-aged children born very preterm.

Background: Volumes of cerebellar posterior lobes have been associated with cognitive skills, such as language functioning. Children born very preterm (VPT) often have language problems. However, only total cerebellar volume has been associated with language functioning, with contradicting results.

Language functions deserve more attention in follow-up of children born very preterm.

Background: Language is a complex neurodevelopmental phenomenon. Approximately 45% of children born very preterm (VP) show mild-to-severe language problems throughout childhood. Nevertheless, in most hospitals in Europe language functions are not routinely assessed at follow-up.

Does a narrative retelling task improve the assessment of language proficiency in school-aged children born very preterm?

Almost half of the children born very preterm (VP) experience language difficulties at school-age, specifically with more complex language tasks. Narrative retelling is such a task. Therefore, we explored the value of narrative retelling assessment in school-aged children born VP, compared to item-based language assessment.

Language outcome related to brain structures in school-aged preterm children: A systematic review.

Preterm children often have language problems. This atypical language development is probably due to atypical brain development. We conducted a systematic review to provide an overview of the extensive and diverse scientific literature on the relations between language outcome and underlying brain structures in school-aged preterm-born children.

Auditory brainstem maturation in normal-hearing infants born preterm: a meta-analysis.

Aim: Children born preterm often have neurodevelopmental problems later in life. Abnormal maturation of the auditory brainstem in the presence of normal hearing might be a marker for these problems. We conducted a meta-analysis of auditory brainstem response (ABR) latencies at term age to describe differences in auditory brainstem maturation between normal-hearing preterm and term-born infants.