A neuroimaging study found that toddlers who experienced more severe maltreatment had lower total brain volume, particularly smaller gray matter volume, which was linked to lower cognitive abilities. Childhood maltreatment encompasses physical, emotional, and sexual abuse, as well as neglect, and can have long-lasting effects on mental and physical health. The study, conducted on 86 children aged 3 to 5, suggests that greater maltreatment severity in early childhood is associated with smaller brain size and implications for intellectual ability, emphasizing the need for mechanism-driven targets for early intervention.
University of Florida research suggests that chronic ear infections in early childhood can lead to language and auditory processing issues later in life, emphasizing the need for early and continuous monitoring. The study found that children with a history of chronic ear infections had smaller vocabularies, difficulty with similar sounding words, and problems detecting changes in sounds. The researchers stress the importance of taking ear infections seriously and monitoring children long after the last preschool earache fades away, as some language deficits may only reveal themselves in later grades. Prompt treatment of ear infections can help prevent fluid buildup that hurts language development, and future research will include children at risk for delays in auditory development for other reasons.
