Sensorimotor control of the human orofacial system

This is a current project.

Description

Prematurity is rising at an alarming rate in the United States, associated with 1 in 8 live births. Prematurity occurs during a critical period of brain development and is the leading cause of developmental disabilities in children, including cerebral palsy, mental retardation, blindness, chronic lung problems, attention deficit, and speech/language disorders. Feeding competency is another challenging hurdle facing many premature babies who have respiratory disease, brain injury, or certain genetic defects which impair oral development.

A new medical device known as the NTrainer will be tested in a randomized trial among 240 tube-fed premature infants in order to determine if a novel synthetic oral stimulation therapy can effectively accelerate development of suck and feeding skills, enhance brain development, decrease the length of hospitalization, and improve speech-language and mo /tor skills measured at 3 years of age.

Project Administration

Steven M. Barlow, principal investigator

Project Contact

Steven M. Barlow, Ph.D.
Director
Communication Neuroscience Laboratories
3045 Dole Center
1000 Sunnyside Avenue
Lawrence, KS 66045-7555
smbarlow@ku.edu
(785) 864-0632 (office)
(785) 864-1196 (lab)
(785) 864-4403 (fax)

This is a project of:

Speech-Language-Hearing: Sciences & Disorders (SPLH)

Funded by:

National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD)

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Send corrections/comments/questions to lifespan@ku.edu


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