Running Head: DIAGNOSIS AND TREATMENT OF DEVELOPMENTAL DELAYS 1

Diagnosis and Treatment of Developmental Delays due to Prematurity

Samantha McGowan
Northeastern University












DIAGNOSIS AND TREATMENT OF DEVELOPMENTAL DELAYS 2

Being born premature directly affects the first months of a childs life and indirectly
affects the rest of that childs life. The effects of a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) stay
manifests differently in every child and can influence language, feeding, and motor and
intellectual abilities. While in the NICU, premature infants must endure a multitude of different
medical procedures and occasionally surgeries that full term infants never do. Being born
premature puts an infant at risk for respiratory distress syndrome, bronchopulmonary dysplasia,
apnea of prematurity, intraventricular hemorrhage, necrotizing enterocolitis, gastroesohpageal
reflux, and retinopathy of prematurity (Kelly , 2006). These complications can lead to a variety
of delays. Being born premature increases the risk of have more than one delay, however the
level of severity increases with decreases gestational age (Woodward et al., 2009). Children born
premature, who have minor motor impairments, are at greater risk for intellectual difficulties
(Foulder-Hughes & Cooke, 2003). Due to complexity and individual nature of the effects of
prematurity, it is necessary to receive an early diagnosis and interventions of any delays that
might surface.
This paper will analyze the resources available for the diagnosis and treatment of
developmental delays caused by premature birth. Infant follow up programs, primary care, and
Early Intervention are a few resources available to children currently. One example of the
necessity for further analysis is that for the approximately 3,200,000 preterm infants who
received care in a NICU (Verma, Sridhar & Spitzer, 2003), there are no standardized guidelines
for follow- up services (Vohr, Wright, Hack, Aylward, & Hirtz, 2004). Proper guidelines would
help each child receive similar, evidence based care. Currently, most resources available focus
on medical therapies for the child; however, parent education could be the key to proper
diagnosis and treatment. Educating parents on their infants cues and facilitating parent bonding
DIAGNOSIS AND TREATMENT OF DEVELOPMENTAL DELAYS 3

and interaction promotes healthy development (Sajaniemi et al., 2001). Parent education classes
may be a resource needed to aid premature infants in reaching developmental milestones. The
ultimate goal of this paper will be to outline programs add that efficiently diagnose and treat
delays of prematurity in order to suggest beneficial alternative resources.
Reflective Note: For this paper, I am targeting the Association of Womens Health,
Obstetrics and Neonatal Nursing, which is the leading professional association for nurses who
specialize in the care of women and newborns. One of the goals of their convention is to describe
evidenced- based nursing interventions that improve newborns and women across the lifespan
(Association of Women's Health, Obstetric and Neonatal Nurses, 2014). A main focus of this
paper is to propose resources that will better the lives of children who were born premature. I
chose to use APA citations. Being premature is defined as being born before 37 weeks gestation.












DIAGNOSIS AND TREATMENT OF DEVELOPMENTAL DELAYS 4

References
Association of Women's Health, Obstetric and Neonatal Nurses (2014). Call for papers.
Retrieved from https://awhonn.confex.com/awhonn/2014/cfp.cgi
Foulder-Hughes, L. A., & Cooke, R. W. I. (2003). Motor, cognitive, and behavioral disorders in
children born very preterm. Developmental Medicine and Child Neurology, 45, 97-103.
doi: 10.1017/0012163303000197
Kelly , M.M. (2006). The basics of prematurity. Journal of Pediatric Health Care, 20(4), 238-244.
Retrieved from: http://dx.doi.org.ezproxy.neu.edu/10.1016/j.pedhc.2006.01.001
Sajaniemi, N., Makela, J., Salokorpi, T., von Wendt, L., Hamalainen, T., & Hakamies-
Blomqvist, L. (2001). Cognitive performance and attachment patterns at four years of age
in extremely low birth weight infants after early intervention. European Child and
Adolescent Pyschiatry, 10, 122-129.
Verma, R., Sridhar, S., & Spitzer, A. (2003). Continuing care of nicu graduates. Clinical
Pediatrics, 42(4), 299-315. doi: 10.1177/000992280304200403
Vohr, B., Wright, L., Hack, M., Aylward, G., Hirtz, D., & , (2004). Follow- up care of high risk
infants.Pediatrics, 114(5)
Woodward, L. J., Moor, S., Hood, K. M., Champion, P. R., Foster-Cohen, S., Inder, T. F., &
Austin, N. C. (2009). Very preterm children show impairments across multiple
nuerodevelopmental doamins by age 4 years. Arch Dis Child Fetal Neonatal Ed,94(5),
339-344. doi: 10.1136/adc.2008.146282