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Using Infant Non-Nutritive Suck as a Diagnostic Measure of Future Speech Function

Award Number: R01DC019902
ORGANIZATION: NATIONAL INSTITUTE ON DEAFNESS AND OTHER COMMUNICATION DISORDERS
OPDIV: NIH
AWARD CLASS: DISCRETIONARY
AWARD ACTIVITY TYPE: SCIENTIFIC/HEALTH RESEARCH (INCLUDES SURVEYS)
PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE START DATE: 12/01/2021
PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE END DATE: 11/30/2026

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Using Infant Non-Nutritive Suck as a Diagnostic Measure of Future Speech Function - PROJECT SUMMARY Pediatric feeding disorders are on the rise and are present in 20-50% of typically developing children (1-8) and in 33-80% of children with developmental delay (9, 10). Furthermore, infants who are born preterm are particularly at-risk for sucking and feeding difficulties (11, 12). Early non-nutritive suck (NNS) – or sucking without nutrients being delivered – and feeding skills have been shown to be reliable indicators of central nervous system (CNS) integrity (18). In fact, delays in sucking and feeding have been reported in approximately 35-48% of infants with different types of neonatal brain injury (18). Sucking, feeding, speech, and language all develop in parallel in the first year of life and rely heavily on sensorimotor integration. However, the link between sucking and feeding skills, CNS function, and development extends beyond the neonatal period. Emerging retrospective research links neonatal sucking and feeding patterns to subsequent speech (13) and language (14-17) development in early childhood. Although these behaviors emerge on a similar timeline and share neural resources and musculature, they are rarely studied together and the links between them remain unknown. We propose a longitudinal study to sample NNS data at 3, 6, 9, and 12 months of age and speech outcomes at 12, 24, and 36 months of age across full-term (n=85) and moderate to late preterm (32-37 weeks’ gestational age; n=85) infants. The specific goals of the proposed research are as follows: (Aim 1) to establish typical patterns of NNS across infants born full-term and preterm in the first year of life and utilize a functional data analysis to examine infants’ NNS burst waveforms, and (Aim 3) to determine the ability of NNS to predict subsequent speech development across preterm and full-term infants until age three. We hypothesize that infant suck will change significantly across the first year of life with infants born premature performing worse on these measures compared to full-term infants. In addition, we hypothesize that neonatal suck will predict speech development across preterm and full-term infants. This study provides an unprecedented level of power in identifying the connection between neonatal sucking and subsequent speech emergence for several reasons: we will use our (1) innovative, custom and quantitative NNS device to sample suck across (2) two groups of infants and will (3) utilize functional data analyses to better understand NNS development and its implications for speech development later in life. (4) We will use standardized and non- standardized approaches to longitudinally study speech development, which will allow for a more robust and nuanced understanding of how NNS and speech are connected in infants and children. Overall, this project captures three years of in-depth oral motor coordination using state-of-the-art methods and collaborators to answer important theoretical questions. Results generated by this clinically relevant and theoretically driven study will create a paradigm shift in how clinicians approach feeding and speech therapies in early childhood.


Issue Date FY	Funding FY	Legal Entity Name	Legal Entity Address	Legal Entity City	Legal Entity State	Legal Entity Zip Code	Legal Entity COUNTY	Legal Entity COUNTRY	Assistance Listing	Award Code	Budget Year	Action Date	Action Type	Action Amount

Issue Date FY: 2026 ( Subtotal = $602,008 )
2026	2026	NORTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY	360 HUNTINGTON AVE	BOSTON	MA	02115	SUFFOLK	USA	Research Related to Deafness and Communication Disorders	000	5	11/26/2025	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$602,008
														Subtotal = $602,008

Issue Date FY: 2025 ( Subtotal = $670,284 )
2025	2025	NORTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY	360 HUNTINGTON AVE	BOSTON	MA	02115	SUFFOLK	USA	Research Related to Deafness and Communication Disorders	001	4	5/6/2025	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$67,028
2025	2025	NORTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY	360 HUNTINGTON AVE	BOSTON	MA	02115	SUFFOLK	USA	Research Related to Deafness and Communication Disorders	000	4	11/1/2024	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$603,256
														Subtotal = $670,284

Issue Date FY: 2024 ( Subtotal = $710,272 )
2024	2024	NORTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY	360 HUNTINGTON AVE	BOSTON	MA	02115	SUFFOLK	USA	Research Related to Deafness and Communication Disorders	001	3	5/2/2024	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$71,027
2024	2024	NORTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY	360 HUNTINGTON AVE	BOSTON	MA	02115	SUFFOLK	USA	Research Related to Deafness and Communication Disorders	000	3	11/9/2023	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$639,245
														Subtotal = $710,272

Issue Date FY: 2023 ( Subtotal = $736,977 )
2023	2023	NORTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY	360 HUNTINGTON AVE	BOSTON	MA	02115	SUFFOLK	USA	Research Related to Deafness and Communication Disorders	000	2	11/25/2022	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$663,280
2023	2023	NORTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY	360 HUNTINGTON AVE	BOSTON	MA	02115	SUFFOLK	USA	Research Related to Deafness and Communication Disorders	001	2	1/13/2023	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$73,697
														Subtotal = $736,977

Issue Date FY: 2022 ( Subtotal = $766,570 )
2022	2022	NORTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY	360 HUNTINGTON AVE	BOSTON	MA	02115	SUFFOLK	USA	Research Related to Deafness and Communication Disorders	000	1	11/5/2021	NEW	$766,570
														Subtotal = $766,570

Grand Total All Awards = $3,486,111

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Using Infant Non-Nutritive Suck as a Diagnostic Measure of Future Speech Function

Award Number: R01DC019902

ORGANIZATION: NATIONAL INSTITUTE ON DEAFNESS AND OTHER COMMUNICATION DISORDERS

OPDIV: NIH

AWARD CLASS: DISCRETIONARY

AWARD ACTIVITY TYPE: SCIENTIFIC/HEALTH RESEARCH (INCLUDES SURVEYS)

PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE START DATE: 12/01/2021

PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE END DATE: 11/30/2026

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