Maternal Immune Activation Hypotheses for Human Neurodevelopment: Some Outstanding Questions.

The maternal immune activation hypothesis is a leading model for understanding prenatal influences on individual differences in, and clinical syndromes of, neurodevelopment. Experimental animal and human research has proliferated in recent years, and there is now a sizable research base. Several meta-analyses demonstrate general support for an association between prenatal immune activation and neurodevelopment in human research. However, questions remain about the nature of the immune activation, network of underlying mechanisms involved, and breadth of impact across behavioral phenotypes. Complementing recent reviews of results, the current review places particular emphasis on how a better understanding of mechanisms may be achieved with greater attention to addressing the methodological variation and limitations of existing studies and identifies areas for further clinical research.

Adolescent outcomes of children with early speech sound disorders with and without language impairment.

PURPOSE: In this study, the authors determined adolescent speech, language, and literacy outcomes of individuals with histories of early childhood speech sound disorders (SSD) with and without comorbid language impairment (LI) and examined factors associated with these outcomes. METHOD: This study used a prospective longitudinal design. Participants with SSD (n = 170), enrolled at early childhood (4-6 years) were followed at adolescence (11-18 years) and were compared to individuals with no histories of speech or language impairment (no SSD; n = 146) on measures of speech, language, and literacy. Comparisons were made between adolescents with early childhood histories of no SSD, SSD only, and SSD plus LI as well as between adolescents with no SSD, resolved SSD, and persistent SSD. RESULTS: Individuals with early childhood SSD with comorbid LI had poorer outcomes than those with histories of SSD only or no SSD. Poorer language and literacy outcomes in adolescence were associated with multiple factors, including persistent speech sound problems, lower nonverbal intelligence, and lower socioeconomic status. Adolescents with persistent SSD had higher rates of comorbid LI and reading disability than the no SSD and resolved SSD groups. CONCLUSION: Risk factors for language and literacy problems in adolescence include an early history of LI, persistent SSD, lower nonverbal cognitive ability, and social disadvantage.