Barry M. Lester: Newborn Neurobehavior Predicts 2 Year Developmental Outcome in Preterm Infants

Discovery Summary

Key Takeaways:

• Infants born prematurely are at higher risk for developmental and behavioral disorders, but early detection and treatment can prevent or reduce the severity of these disorders.
• Doctors and researchers can perform neurobehavioral assessments on newborn infants that evaluate a variety of neurological and behavioral indicators (e.g., attention, movement, response to stress, excitability).
• Neurobehavioral assessments conducted shortly after birth can identify which infants are most at risk for developmental disorders later in childhood.
• These neurobehavioral assessments can be conducted before the infants are discharged from the hospital when their brains are still highly malleable.
• This could give doctors and researchers a better chance to design effective interventions that can prevent developmental disorders later in childhood.

Speaker:

Barry M. Lester, PhD

Departments of Psychiatry and Pediatrics
Alpert Medical School of Brown University

Speaker Bio:

Dr. Lester is the Founding Director of the Brown Center for the Study of Children at Risk at the Alpert Medical School of Brown University and Women and Infants. The Center includes research, diagnostic and treatment services and training across a range of at risk populations from birth through adolescence. Dr. Lester was trained as a developmental psychologist and then completed a postdoctoral fellowship in pediatrics. The focus of his research is on the interface of biological and social factors that shape developmental outcomes in children at risk.