What factors interfere with the performance of preschool children in the language subtest of Bayley-III?

PURPOSE: to verify if the performance of pre-school children born prematurely and at term in the Bayley-III language subtest differs and to identify whether variables gestational age, birth weight, socioeconomic level, and maternal education are determinant in the outcome of language development. METHODS: Descriptive cross-sectional case-control study in which 36 pre-school children born prematurely and 27 born at term were evaluated concerning language development by the Bayley III subtest. Preschoolers between 18 and 36 months of chronological age were considered; with no syndromes or genetic, sensory, neurological, auditory, or visual impairments; and had not previously undergone speech therapy. Mann-Whitney, Fisher's Exact, and binary logistic regression tests were used for statistical analysis. RESULTS: the groups' performance did not differ either by the composite score (p = .701) or by the classification based on the percentile (p = .225). Gestational age, birth weight, and socioeconomic status did not influence the outcome of language development. However, maternal education was significant (p = .014) in the binary logistic regression model, suggesting that the mother having studied until basic education increases the chance of having a child underperforming in the Bayley III language subtest 6.31 times. CONCLUSION: there was no difference between the groups in the Bayley-III language subtest and only maternal education influenced the outcome of language development.