Overview of Early Motor Development and Interventions for Infants With Moderate or Severe Bronchopulmonary Dysplasia.

Bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD) is the most common chronic lung disease of infancy (CLDI) associated with extreme prematurity.  BPD is associated with poor neurodevelopmental outcomes throughout childhood. The impact of BPD on neurodevelopment correlates with the degree of lung disease; children with the most severe forms of BPD are the highest risk for poor outcomes. Infants with severe BPD have limited opportunities to experience and respond to the normal stimuli in their environment. In this symposium, we will discuss the results of our study to characterize motor skill acquisition at 3 and 6 months corrected age and the trajectories of skill development over this time period in infants with severe BPD. The impact of medical interventions and development of postural asymmetries on acquisition of developmental skills will be presented. Targeted therapeutic interventions to facilitate early motor development and in turn improve outcomes for infants with BPD will be discussed.