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Developmental Development And Brain Development Essay

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An estimated 12% of babies are born prematurely, with approximately 1,4% are born at 32 weeks or earlier and weigh less than 1500 grams. Premature babies will continuously face a significant risk of severe neurodevelopmental problems, such as language and cognitive delays; permanent neurosensory impairments; motor deficits; learning disabilities; socioemotional and neurobehavioral issues (Browne, 2003). Developmental care during the last several weeks of gestation positively influence neurodevelopmental functioning as research on cognitive development and brain volume abnormalities has shown that a premature birth can disrupt the fetal brain development, which then reduces the reginal cortical volumes most prominently in the sensorimotor regions (Tessier et al., 2009). Major impairments are most likely to occur in much younger and smaller premature babies and many of the underlying deficits can lead to difficulties in school for those who were born in need of the NICU, such as neurodevelopmental and socioemotional issues. These may include speech and language disorders, neuromotor disorders, cognitive delays, and perceptual issues, these difficulties may continue into adolescence and young adulthood. The youngest survivors, at approximately 28 weeks gestation or earlier, face a 25% chance of permanent impairment in one or more functioning area, whereas, babies born at 32 weeks have less than an 8% chance of an irreversible impairment (Browne, 2003). It was initially thought

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