This dissertation is comprised of four studies investigating the hypothesis that adults and children who stutter differ from their same-age fluent peers in the neuroanatomy and neurophysiology underlying auditory speech processing. It has been consistently reported that adults who stutter demonstrate unique functional neural activation patterns during speech production, including reduced auditory activation, relative to nonstutterers. The extent to which these functional differences are accompanied by abnormal morphology of the brain in stutterers is unclear. The first study in this dissertation examined the neuroanatomical differences in speech-related cortex between adults who do and do not stutter using magnetic resonance imaging and voxel-based morphometry analyses. Adults who stutter were found to have localized grey matter volume increases in auditory and motor speech related cortex. The second study extended this line of research to children who stutter, who were found to have localized grey matter volume decreases in motor speech related cortex. Together, these studies suggest an abnormal trajectory of regional grey matter development in motor speech cortex of people who stutter. The last two studies investigated the mechanism underlying the repeated findings of reduced auditory activation during speech in people who stutter in more detail. Magnetoencephalography was used to investigate the hypothesis that people who stutter have increased speech induced suppression of early evoked auditory responses. Adults and children who stutter demonstrated typical levels of speech induced suppression relative to fluent peers. However, adults and children who stutter showed differences from peers in the timing of cortical auditory responses. Taken together, the studies demonstrate structural and functional abnormalities in brain regions related to auditory processing and point to the possibility that people who stutter have difficulty forming the neural representations of speech sounds necessary for fluent speech production.

Current understandings of aging and the life course are largely based on taken-for-granted hetero-normative assumptions. Gay men lack aging road maps that are unique to their life course experiences and which consider the changing contextual and social conditions that shape their participation choices in family and community roles. This is particularly so for gay men aging in rural environments as most studies of aging gay men focus on the urban experience. This study adds to understandings of aging and the life course by examining the lives of three gay men aging in rural environments. I use a life history approach to shed light on how sexual identity development and marginalization within rural environments intersect with shifting social contexts to shape the aging process in terms of engagement in social role opportunities, namely, community and family participation. As a life course researcher, I pay particular attention to the tensions between individual agency and structural constraints and how they are revealed through the life histories. Epistemological and methodological assumptions based on social constructivism, critical and queer theory inform the study while my own lived experiences as a gay man and an occupational therapist practitioner and educator ground the study. Cross-cutting themes identified in the life narratives reveal connections between sexual identity development and the coming out processes with patterns of social relationships and the gay aging process. These themes are then discussed in terms of their relevance to broader aging and life course constructs including generativity, social capital and gay aging; agency and structure in identity development; and expanded notions of family and social support for gay men. Findings from this study have implications for current explanations of ageing and life course processes; challenge limiting stereotypes of older gay men; inform health and social service professionals who work with older gay people; and provide examples of alternative queer life pathways for gay people of all ages.

Réalisé en cotutelle avec l'Université de Lorraine (France) / Ce projet traite de la programmation développementale de l’hypertension artérielle (HTA) à travers des influences néonatales précoces pouvant moduler le développement vasculaire. Les bébés prématurés présentent des défenses antioxydantes diminuées comparés aux nouveau-nés à terme et sont exposés à la naissance à des concentrations élevées en oxygène (O2) engendrant la production d’espèces réactives de l’O2 (ERO). Les conséquences vasculaires à long terme de dommages liés aux ERO en période néonatale et les mécanismes impliqués sont très partiellement compris. Les précédents résultats du laboratoire ont montré qu’un stress hyperoxique néonatal conduit chez le rat adulte à de l’HTA, une dysfonction endothéliale et une rigidité artérielle, éléments de vieillissement vasculaire. Nous émettons l'hypothèse qu'un stress hyperoxique néonatale conduit à long terme à l'altération de la structure vasculaire et à un vieillissement vasculaire précoce. Nous avons démontré une diminution de la prolifération cellulaire, une capacité angiogénique altérée, des dommages à l’ADN et une augmentation de l’expression de protéines de sénescences (des indices de sénescence cellulaire) au-delà de la période néonatale suite à une exposition brève à l’O2 au niveau vasculaire dans un modèle animal (ratons Sprague-Dawley exposés à 80 % d’O2 du 3ème au 10ème jour de vie comparés à des ratons restés à l’air ambiant) et cellulaire (cellules musculaires lisses d'aortes thoraciques d'embryon de rat exposées à 40% O2 pendant 24h ou 48h, puis remises en normoxie pendant 96h). De plus, des altérations des composants de la structure vasculaire indiquant un remodelage vasculaire aortique ont été mises en évidence. Ces changements précèdent tous l’HTA et la dysfonction vasculaire observées dans le modèle animal à l’âge adulte et pourraient y contribuer. L’étude de jeunes adultes nés < 29 semaines comparés à des jeunes adultes nés à terme indique une augmentation de marqueurs de rigidité artérielle (indices d’un vieillissement vasculaire précoce) chez la population prématurée. L’ensemble des résultats démontre un vieillissement vasculaire précoce après une exposition néonatale transitoire à un stress hyperoxique permettant une meilleure compréhension des mécanismes physiopathologiques impliqués dans la survenue des troubles vasculaires retrouvés chez l’adulte et contribue à la mise en place de moyens de prévention chez des patients prématurés. / The scope of this thesis is developmental programming of arterial high blood pressure (HBP) hypertension through early neonatal stimuli that may alter vascular development. Premature newborns have decreased antioxidant defenses compared to term babies and are exposed upon birth to high oxygen (O2) concentration, causing reactive oxygen species (ROS) production. Long term vascular consequences of ROS related damage during the neonatal period and the mechanisms involved remain unknown. Recent data from the laboratory show that neonatal hyperoxic stress leads in adult rat to HBP, endothelial dysfunction and arterial rigidity, characteristic features of vascular aging. We hypothesize that a neonatal hyperoxic stress leads to long term vascular structure alteration explained by an early aging of the vascular system. We showed a decreased proliferation rate, an altered angiogenic capacity, as well as long term DNA damage and increased expression of senescence proteins at a vascular level following O2 exposure in the animal (male Sprague-Dawley pups kept at 80% O2 from postnatal days 3 to 10 vs. rats remained in room air) and cellular models (embryonic vascular smooth muscle cells from rat thoracic aorta exposed to 40% O2 for 24h or 48h followed by 96h recovery in control conditions). In addition, alterations of vascular structure components indicating vascular remodeling was shown before the onset of the HBP at adult age. Those changes precede the HBP and vascular dysfunction observed in our animal model at adult age and could contribute to them. Study of young adults born before 29 weeks vs. young adults born at term showed that young adults born preterm present indices of arterial stiffness vs. term controls. Results of the present thesis demonstrate a major role of premature vascular aging in the surge of vascular diseases in adulthood and contribute to a better understanding of the patho-physiological mechanisms involved and could put into practice new prevention strategies among preterm patients.

L’objectif général de cette thèse était d’explorer le développement personnel de jeunes à risque de délinquance et de décrochage scolaire à travers leur participation à un programme d’intervention psychosociale nommé « Bien dans mes Baskets » (BdmB). Ce programme utilise le basketball parascolaire comme outil d’intervention et il a comme particularité qu’une bonne partie de ses entraineurs-intervenants détiennent une formation professionnelle en travail social ou domaines connexes. Cette thèse présente les résultats de trois études faisant partie d’un projet de recherche plus vaste portant sur l’évaluation du programme BdmB. Une première étude a exploré le processus de transfert, à d’autres domaines d’activités, des habiletés de vie ciblées par le programme BdmB. Des entretiens semi-directifs ont été réalisés auprès de 14 anciens participants et sept anciennes participantes du programme. Nos résultats suggèrent que trois principaux facteurs semblent avoir joué un rôle dans le processus de transfert des habiletés de vie développées au sein de BdmB, soit la présence de contextes favorisant l’apprentissage expérientiel, la valeur relative accordée aux différents domaines d’activités et la trajectoire de vie. Il ressort également de nos données qu’au-delà du processus de transfert sur une base individuelle, il est possible qu’un transfert puisse s’opérer dans la communauté. L’objectif de la deuxième étude était d’explorer comment et dans quelle mesure les expériences au sein de BdmB ont pu servir de levier au processus d’empowerment. Des entretiens semi-directifs ont été réalisés auprès de sept anciennes participantes de BdmB. Nos résultats suggèrent que la pratique sportive, combinée à une intervention psychosociale, peut contribuer au développement d’un plus grand contrôle sur sa vie. Cette amélioration serait la résultante cumulative de divers apprentissages, dont le développement et le transfert d’habiletés de vie et la capacité à résister aux influences externes négatives présentes dans leurs milieux de vie respectifs, ainsi que l’impact positif des expériences vécues au sein de BdmB sur la persévérance scolaire et les aspirations professionnelles. Une troisième étude avait pour objectif d’évaluer l’impact du programme BdmB sur le sentiment d’appartenance à l’école et la perception de soutien social. Un devis quasi expérimental a été utilisé pour évaluer l’impact du programme auprès des athlètes-étudiants(es) actuels. Le groupe d’intervention était composé des athlètes-étudiants de BdmB et les groupes de comparaison étaient constitués des étudiants de la même école ne participant pas au programme et pratiquant ou non un autre sport. Les individus ont été sondés à deux reprises à l’aide d’un questionnaire auto administré sur une période de deux années scolaires. Les résultats de l’étude indiquent que le groupe BdmB a développé un meilleur sentiment d’appartenance et a perçu un meilleur soutien social par rapport aux groupes de comparaison. / The main objective of this thesis was to explore the personal development of youth at risk of delinquency and dropout through their involvement in a psychosocial intervention program named "Bien dans mes baskets" (BdmB). This program uses extracurricular basketball as an intervention tool among youth facing various difficulties. It is worth noting that almost all the coaches have professional training in social work or related fields. This thesis presents the results of three studies as parts of a broader research project dealing with the evaluation of the BdmB program. The first study explored the transfer process of the life skills targeted by the BdmB program to other activity fields. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 14 men and seven women former athlete-students. Our results suggest that, throughout the adult life, three main factors seem to have played a role in the transfer process involving life skills developed as part of BdmB, namely the presence of contexts favoring experiential learning, the relative value granted to the different activity fields and the life trajectory. Our data also shows that beyond the transfer process on an individual scale, a transfer can also occur within the community. The aim of the second study was to explore how participation in BdmB could foster the process of empowerment. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with seven former female participants of BdmB. Our results suggest that a team sport can lead to empowerment through positive socialization, especially when combined with psychosocial intervention. This improvement was most likely the result of cumulative learning experiences including the development and transfer of life skills, the capacity to resist negative external influences as well as the positive impact of experiences in BdmB on their academic aspirations and persistence. The aim of the third study was to evaluate the impact of BdmB program on sense of belonging to school and the presence of social support. A quasi-experimental design was used to evaluate the impact of the program among current participants. The intervention group consisted of the athlete-students of BdmB and the comparison groups consisted of the students from the same school who are not participating in the program, and taking into account whether they are involved or not in sport participation. Individuals were surveyed two times using a self-administered questionnaire over a period of two academic years. Results indicate that the intervention group has developed a better sense of belonging to school and has a better social support compared to comparison groups.

L’objectif général de cette thèse était d’explorer le développement personnel de jeunes à risque de délinquance et de décrochage scolaire à travers leur participation à un programme d’intervention psychosociale nommé « Bien dans mes Baskets » (BdmB). Ce programme utilise le basketball parascolaire comme outil d’intervention et il a comme particularité qu’une bonne partie de ses entraineurs-intervenants détiennent une formation professionnelle en travail social ou domaines connexes. Cette thèse présente les résultats de trois études faisant partie d’un projet de recherche plus vaste portant sur l’évaluation du programme BdmB. Une première étude a exploré le processus de transfert, à d’autres domaines d’activités, des habiletés de vie ciblées par le programme BdmB. Des entretiens semi-directifs ont été réalisés auprès de 14 anciens participants et sept anciennes participantes du programme. Nos résultats suggèrent que trois principaux facteurs semblent avoir joué un rôle dans le processus de transfert des habiletés de vie développées au sein de BdmB, soit la présence de contextes favorisant l’apprentissage expérientiel, la valeur relative accordée aux différents domaines d’activités et la trajectoire de vie. Il ressort également de nos données qu’au-delà du processus de transfert sur une base individuelle, il est possible qu’un transfert puisse s’opérer dans la communauté. L’objectif de la deuxième étude était d’explorer comment et dans quelle mesure les expériences au sein de BdmB ont pu servir de levier au processus d’empowerment. Des entretiens semi-directifs ont été réalisés auprès de sept anciennes participantes de BdmB. Nos résultats suggèrent que la pratique sportive, combinée à une intervention psychosociale, peut contribuer au développement d’un plus grand contrôle sur sa vie. Cette amélioration serait la résultante cumulative de divers apprentissages, dont le développement et le transfert d’habiletés de vie et la capacité à résister aux influences externes négatives présentes dans leurs milieux de vie respectifs, ainsi que l’impact positif des expériences vécues au sein de BdmB sur la persévérance scolaire et les aspirations professionnelles. Une troisième étude avait pour objectif d’évaluer l’impact du programme BdmB sur le sentiment d’appartenance à l’école et la perception de soutien social. Un devis quasi expérimental a été utilisé pour évaluer l’impact du programme auprès des athlètes-étudiants(es) actuels. Le groupe d’intervention était composé des athlètes-étudiants de BdmB et les groupes de comparaison étaient constitués des étudiants de la même école ne participant pas au programme et pratiquant ou non un autre sport. Les individus ont été sondés à deux reprises à l’aide d’un questionnaire auto administré sur une période de deux années scolaires. Les résultats de l’étude indiquent que le groupe BdmB a développé un meilleur sentiment d’appartenance et a perçu un meilleur soutien social par rapport aux groupes de comparaison. / The main objective of this thesis was to explore the personal development of youth at risk of delinquency and dropout through their involvement in a psychosocial intervention program named "Bien dans mes baskets" (BdmB). This program uses extracurricular basketball as an intervention tool among youth facing various difficulties. It is worth noting that almost all the coaches have professional training in social work or related fields. This thesis presents the results of three studies as parts of a broader research project dealing with the evaluation of the BdmB program. The first study explored the transfer process of the life skills targeted by the BdmB program to other activity fields. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 14 men and seven women former athlete-students. Our results suggest that, throughout the adult life, three main factors seem to have played a role in the transfer process involving life skills developed as part of BdmB, namely the presence of contexts favoring experiential learning, the relative value granted to the different activity fields and the life trajectory. Our data also shows that beyond the transfer process on an individual scale, a transfer can also occur within the community. The aim of the second study was to explore how participation in BdmB could foster the process of empowerment. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with seven former female participants of BdmB. Our results suggest that a team sport can lead to empowerment through positive socialization, especially when combined with psychosocial intervention. This improvement was most likely the result of cumulative learning experiences including the development and transfer of life skills, the capacity to resist negative external influences as well as the positive impact of experiences in BdmB on their academic aspirations and persistence. The aim of the third study was to evaluate the impact of BdmB program on sense of belonging to school and the presence of social support. A quasi-experimental design was used to evaluate the impact of the program among current participants. The intervention group consisted of the athlete-students of BdmB and the comparison groups consisted of the students from the same school who are not participating in the program, and taking into account whether they are involved or not in sport participation. Individuals were surveyed two times using a self-administered questionnaire over a period of two academic years. Results indicate that the intervention group has developed a better sense of belonging to school and has a better social support compared to comparison groups.

This dissertation is comprised of four studies investigating the hypothesis that adults and children who stutter differ from their same-age fluent peers in the neuroanatomy and neurophysiology underlying auditory speech processing. It has been consistently reported that adults who stutter demonstrate unique functional neural activation patterns during speech production, including reduced auditory activation, relative to nonstutterers. The extent to which these functional differences are accompanied by abnormal morphology of the brain in stutterers is unclear. The first study in this dissertation examined the neuroanatomical differences in speech-related cortex between adults who do and do not stutter using magnetic resonance imaging and voxel-based morphometry analyses. Adults who stutter were found to have localized grey matter volume increases in auditory and motor speech related cortex. The second study extended this line of research to children who stutter, who were found to have localized grey matter volume decreases in motor speech related cortex. Together, these studies suggest an abnormal trajectory of regional grey matter development in motor speech cortex of people who stutter. The last two studies investigated the mechanism underlying the repeated findings of reduced auditory activation during speech in people who stutter in more detail. Magnetoencephalography was used to investigate the hypothesis that people who stutter have increased speech induced suppression of early evoked auditory responses. Adults and children who stutter demonstrated typical levels of speech induced suppression relative to fluent peers. However, adults and children who stutter showed differences from peers in the timing of cortical auditory responses. Taken together, the studies demonstrate structural and functional abnormalities in brain regions related to auditory processing and point to the possibility that people who stutter have difficulty forming the neural representations of speech sounds necessary for fluent speech production.

Current understandings of aging and the life course are largely based on taken-for-granted hetero-normative assumptions. Gay men lack aging road maps that are unique to their life course experiences and which consider the changing contextual and social conditions that shape their participation choices in family and community roles. This is particularly so for gay men aging in rural environments as most studies of aging gay men focus on the urban experience. This study adds to understandings of aging and the life course by examining the lives of three gay men aging in rural environments. I use a life history approach to shed light on how sexual identity development and marginalization within rural environments intersect with shifting social contexts to shape the aging process in terms of engagement in social role opportunities, namely, community and family participation. As a life course researcher, I pay particular attention to the tensions between individual agency and structural constraints and how they are revealed through the life histories. Epistemological and methodological assumptions based on social constructivism, critical and queer theory inform the study while my own lived experiences as a gay man and an occupational therapist practitioner and educator ground the study. Cross-cutting themes identified in the life narratives reveal connections between sexual identity development and the coming out processes with patterns of social relationships and the gay aging process. These themes are then discussed in terms of their relevance to broader aging and life course constructs including generativity, social capital and gay aging; agency and structure in identity development; and expanded notions of family and social support for gay men. Findings from this study have implications for current explanations of ageing and life course processes; challenge limiting stereotypes of older gay men; inform health and social service professionals who work with older gay people; and provide examples of alternative queer life pathways for gay people of all ages.

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Family Studies and Human Services / Anthony Jurich / This study was aimed at understanding the retrospective experiences of adults who have fathers who are cross-dressers. This study addressed common concerns that partners of men who cross-dress have regarding the impact of fathers’ cross-dressing on children. Previous research indicated that some women in relationships with men who cross-dress actively chose to not have children due to not knowing what effects their partner’s cross-dressing may have on children. Qualitative data from five interviews conducted with adult children of cross-dressing fathers was utilized. Participants reflected upon the following areas: The individual and relational factors that impacted their reaction to having fathers who are cross-dressers; the meanings they created about their fathers’ being cross-dressers; the perceived impact on their social development; and advice they would give to others that may promote the adjustment process for children who have fathers who cross-dress. This study revealed thick description of the adjustment processes for a sample of adult children of cross-dressing fathers. Specifically, the results revealed that the participants adjusted to having fathers who are cross-dressers relatively easily. The closeness of their relationships, the timing and nature of disclosure, their fathers’ comfort levels with being cross-dressers, and the familial response to the fathers’ cross-dressing were all revealed to play important roles in the participants’ acceptance of and adjustment to their fathers’ being cross-dressers. Overall, the participants identified more positive effects than negative in reference to their relationships with their fathers and their social adjustment. This research can assist clinicians in helping couples facing this issue to make informed decisions about having children and in deciding the timing and the preferred circumstances in which fathers should disclose their cross-dressing to their children.

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Human Nutrition / David A. Dzewaltowski / The environment can be broadly defined as all things external to an individual. One of the most important environments for children is the home in which they live, particularly with regard to the role that parents play to provide opportunities for healthful development, including adequate physical activity and healthful eating habits. Parents are the gatekeepers of children's healthful opportunities, and are influential in numerous aspects related to obesity. The present paper consists of four chapters related to impacting the home environment for prevention of obesity in children. Although obesity is a complex issue, its cause is energy imbalance, wherein less energy is expended than is consumed. Consideration of both sides of the equation is essential for obesity prevention. In this dissertation, chapter 1 serves as a literature review for the home food environment. A conceptual model is presented as an attempt to place relevant literature in the greater context of environmental variables related to childhood obesity. Frequent family meals have been shown to be protective for child and adolescent obesity, and to promote fruit and vegetable consumption. However, time pressures and lack of cooking skills are potential barriers to this healthful practice. Decreases in television viewing and sugar-sweetened beverage consumption are other home environmental aspects showing promise in the obesity prevention literature. Chapters two and three address the influence of parents on children's obesity-preventive behaviors and relative weight status. These chapters help to inform the planning of interventions to prevent obesity in children. Parent-child shared physical activity may hold promise as a strategy to decrease the likelihood of children becoming obese, and bonding may be an important consideration in programs aimed at obesity treatment or prevention. Chapter four describes the evaluation of an intervention developed to impact the home environment of young girl scouts. This intervention was implemented by troop leaders altering troop-meeting environments toward more healthful opportunities for physical activity and nutrition, and through the delivery of a scouts-tailored curriculum. Results of the intervention showed marked changes to troop meeting environments, but apparently little impact on parents or the home environment.

Problématique : Entre 25 et 45% des enfants nés entre 29 et 36 semaines de gestation présenteront un retard de développement (RD) à 2 ans d'âge corrigé (AC). Les enfants nés entre 29 et 36 semaines de gestation ne bénéficient d’aucun suivi systématique structuré, tel que celui retrouvé dans les Cliniques de suivi néonatal, qui permet une identification précoce des RD. Des facteurs tels que les caractéristiques périnatales, environnementales et le statut neurologique à l’âge équivalent du terme (AET) ont été étudiés comme marqueurs potentiels du RD, mais leur capacité à prédire les manifestations précoces du RD, lorsque combinés, demeure mal comprise. Objectif : Déterminer le modèle de prédiction le mieux ajusté pour la prédiction du retard moteur à 3,5 mois AC par la combinaison des facteurs périnataux, environnementaux et du statut neurologique à l’AET chez les enfants nés entre 29 et 36 semaines de gestation. Méthode: Étude prospective incluant 129 enfants nés entre 29 et 36 semaines de gestation et admis ≥48h à l’unité de soins intensifs néonatale (USIN). À l’AET, les facteurs périnataux et environnementaux ont été collectés. Un examen neurologique standardisé de l’enfant a été complété. À 3,5 mois AC, une évaluation motrice a été réalisée avec le Alberta Infant Motor Scale (AIMS): le retard était défini comme un score <10e percentile. Des régressions logistiques ont permis d’identifier les facteurs associés au RD à 3,5 mois AC et de créer un modèle de prédiction. Résultats : Les facteurs qui sont demeurés significatifs dans le modèle multivarié à 3,5 mois AC sont : consommation de tabac par la mère, présence de diabète gestationnel, score à l’Échelle de dépression postnatal d’Édimbourg, indice de risque néonatal et indice de risque environnemental. Le modèle final avait une sensibilité de 76% et une spécificité de 84% pour la prédiction du RD à 3,5 mois. Conclusion : Le modèle statistique élaboré permet une identification suffisamment sensible et spécifique pour être utilisé en clinique à des fins d’identification précoce du risque de RD auprès des enfants nés entre 29 et 36 semaines de gestation et ce, dès l’AET. / Background: Between 25 and 45% of children born prematurely between 29 and 36 weeks of gestation will present with developmental delay by 2 years of corrected age (CA). Children born between 29 and 36 weeks of gestation do not systematically benefit from specialized follow-up, which allows the early identification of developmental delay. Factors such as perinatal characteristics, environmental characteristics and neurological status have been studied as potential markers of developmental delay. However, their capacity for predicting an early manifestation of developmental delay remains poorly understood. Aims: To determine the best-fitting model for the prediction of motor delay at 3.5 months CA by the combination of perinatal factors, environmental factors, and neurological status at term equivalent age (TEA) in children born between 29 and 36 weeks' gestation. Methods: This prospective observational cohort study included 129 infants born between 29 and 36 weeks of gestation and admitted for >48h in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU). At TEA, perinatal and environmental factors were collected, and a standardized neurological examination of the child was also performed. At 3.5 months CA, a motor assessment was performed using the Alberta Infant Motor Scale: delay was defined as a score <10th percentile. Logistic regressions were used in order to identify factors associated with motor delay at 3.5 months CA and to create a prediction model. Results: Factors that remained significant in the multivariate model at 3.5 months CA were maternal smoking, gestational diabetes, Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale score, neonatal risk index, and environmental risk index. The final model had a sensitivity of 76% and a specificity of 84% for predicting motor delay at 3.5 months. Conclusion: The statistical model developed demonstrated a sensitivity and specificity strong enough to support its use in a clinical context for the early identification of the risk of motor delay in children born between 29 and 36 weeks of gestation.