Background: Oruro is a mining city in the Bolivian highlands. Most of its citizens are exposed to polymetalic cocktails. This study aims to determine whether the neuropsychological development of one year-old children can be associated with 1) polymetalic exposures and/or 2) growth patterns. Methods: The thesis builds from data collected by the ToxBol multidisciplinary project. The health task was centred on the follow-up of a birth-cohort that set to evaluate child development. Children were examined at 11 and 12 months of age using the Bayley Scale of Infant Development (BSID). Results: 1) Analyses revealed no high concentrations of metals in the blood of pregnant women. 2) No neuropsychological anomalies were observed in association with metal concentrations or growth patterns. 3) A positive association was observed between low lead values in blood and the neuropsychological development of children. 4) During the first 6 months of life, growth rate was negatively associated with weight at birth and positively associated with the BMI at 12 months of age. Conclusion: Although heavy metallic pollution was demonstrated by environmental studies, unexpected low levels of exposure were registered from pregnant women. Neither the level of exposure to metals nor the growth patterns appear to have an impact on child neuropsychological development. We argue that the positive effect that was observed in association to lead might be caused by factors such as diet. / Antecedentes: Oruro es una ciudad minera del altiplano boliviano. Muchos de sus habitantes están expuestos a un cóctel polimetálico. El objetivo principal es el de determinar si existe una asociación entre desarrollo neuropsicológico de los niños de un año y 1) la exposición polimetálica y/o 2) los patrones de crecimiento. Métodos: Esta tesis está basada en los datos recogidos del Proyecto multidisciplinario ToxBol. Se realizó el seguimiento de una cohorte de niños para evaluar su desarrollo. Para evaluar el desarrollo neuropsicológico de los niños se utilizaron las escalas de Bayley de desarrollo infantil (BSID). Resultados: 1) No se observaron altas concentraciones de metales en sangre de las mujeres embarazadas. 2) No se observaron anormalidades neuropsicológicas en relación con concentraciones de metales o patrones de crecimiento. 3) Se observó una asociación positiva entre exposiciones bajas de plomo y el desarrollo neuropsicológico del niño al año de vida. 4) La velocidad de crecimiento, desde el nacimiento hasta los 6 meses, se asoció negativamente con el peso al nacer y positivamente con el BMI a los 12 meses. Conclusión: A diferencia de lo demostrado en otros estudios epidemiológicos, se observó una inesperada baja exposición. No se observó una relación entre el grado de exposición a metales- o los patrones de crecimiento -y el desarrollo neuropsicológico del niño. El efecto positivo del plomo creemos que se debe a otros factores como la dieta. / Antecedents: Oruro es una ciutat minera del altiplà Bolivià. La població es troba es contacte amb fonts de contaminación polimetàlica. L’objectiu principal es el de determinar si existeix una associació entre el desenvolupament neuropsicològic dels nens d’un any i 1) la exposició polimetálica i/o 2) patrons de creixement. Mètodes: Esta tesi està basada en dades del Projecte multidisciplinari ToxBol. La tasca de salut es va centrar en el seguiment del desenvolupament d’una cohort de nens. El desenvolupament neuropsicològic infantil es va avaluar amb les escales de Baley de Desenvolupament infantil (BSID). Resultats: 1) No es van observar concentracions altes de metalls en sang de les dones embarassades. 2) No es va observar anormalitats neuropsicològiques en realció amb les concentracions de metalls o patrons de creixement. 3) Es va observar una associació positiva entre concentracions baixes de plom en sang i el desenvolupament neuropsicològic dels nens d’un any. 4) La velocitat de creixement, des del naixement fins els 6 mesos, es va associar negativament amb el pes al néixer i positivament amb el BMI als 12 mesos. Conclusió: A diferencia del que esperàvem, es van registrar baixes concentracions de metalls a les dones embarassades. Tampoc s’observa una relació entre el grau d’exposició a metalls, o patrons de creixement, i el desenvolupament neuropsicològic del nens. El efecte positiu que observem del plom, pensem que es deu a altres factors com la dieta.

Submitted by Jos? Henrique Henrique (jose.neves@ufvjm.edu.br) on 2017-03-02T20:23:00Z No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 0 bytes, checksum: d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e (MD5) ana_cristina_resende_camargos.pdf: 3572613 bytes, checksum: ed282931c95236a0305016db8c75f026 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Rodrigo Martins Cruz (rodrigo.cruz@ufvjm.edu.br) on 2017-03-06T11:37:07Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 0 bytes, checksum: d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e (MD5) ana_cristina_resende_camargos.pdf: 3572613 bytes, checksum: ed282931c95236a0305016db8c75f026 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-03-06T11:37:08Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 0 bytes, checksum: d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e (MD5) ana_cristina_resende_camargos.pdf: 3572613 bytes, checksum: ed282931c95236a0305016db8c75f026 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016 / A obesidade infantil ? considerada um dos maiores problemas de sa?de p?blica do mundo. Estudos demonstram altera??o do padr?o de secre??o de adipocinas, cortisol e do fator neurotr?fico derivado do c?rebro (BDNF), bem como inflama??o cl?nica cr?nica sublimiar e desequil?brio redox em crian?as com sobrepeso e obesidade na idade escolar. Al?m disso, o excesso de peso tamb?m est? associado a reduzido desenvolvimento cognitivo e motor. Apesar da literatura indicar que os primeiros 24 meses de vida representam um per?odo importante para o desenvolvimento da obesidade infantil, n?o existem evid?ncias se crian?as com sobrepeso e obesidade nesta faixa et?ria j? apresentam altera??es em par?metros neuroend?crino-inflamat?rios, com poss?vel impacto no desenvolvimento infantil. Dessa forma, os objetivos deste estudo foram: 1) analisar as concentra??es plasm?ticas de adipocinas e BDNF, as concentra??es s?ricas de cortisol e o estado redox de crian?as com sobrepeso/obesidade entre seis e 24 meses de idade; 2) avaliar o desenvolvimento cognitivo e motor de crian?as com sobrepeso/obesidade entre seis e 24 meses de idade e; 3) verificar associa??es entre os biomarcadores avaliados com o desenvolvimento cognitivo e motor nessa faixa et?ria. Foi realizado um estudo transversal com crian?as com sobrepeso/obesidade e eutr?ficas entre seis e 24 meses de idade, cadastradas nas Estrat?gias de Sa?de da Fam?lia. As concentra??es plasm?ticas de leptina, adiponectina, resistina, receptores sol?veis do fator de necrose tumoral 1 e 2 (sTNFR1 e sTNFR1), BDNF e as concentra??es s?ricas de cortisol foram mensuradas pelo m?todo ELISA. As quimiocinas foram mensuradas pela t?cnica cytometric bead arrays e o estado redox foi determinado por meio da detec??o das concentra??es de subst?ncias reativas ao ?cido tiobarbit?rico (TBARS), da atividade das enzimas catalase (CAT) e super?xido dismutase (SOD) e da habilidade de redu??o do ferro (FRAP). O desenvolvimento infantil foi avaliado por meio do instrumento Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development, 3? edi??o (Bayley-III). Foi utilizado teste t para amostras independentes para comparar os grupos e correla??o de Pearson ou Spearman para verificar a associa??o entre as vari?veis. Al?m disso, foi utilizado um modelo de regress?o linear m?ltipla stepwise para verificar a associa??o entre os biomarcardores selecionados com o desenvolvimento cognitivo e motor. As concentra??es plasm?ticas de leptina (p=0,0001), adiponectina (p=0,0007), BDNF (p=0,003) e as concentra??es s?ricas de cortisol (p=0,048) foram significativamente superiores no grupo de crian?as com sobrepeso/obesidade. Em contrapartida, as crian?as deste grupo apresentaram menores concentra??es de TBARS (p=0,004) e menor atividade das enzimas antioxidantes CAT (p=0,045) e SOD (p=0,02). N?o foram encontradas diferen?as significativas nas concentra??es de quimiocinas, sTNFR1, sTNFR2, resistina e FRAP entre os grupos (p>0,05). Al?m disso, as crian?as do grupo sobrepeso/obesidade apresentaram menores escores de desenvolvimento cognitivo (p=0,03) e motor (p=0,04). Foi ainda encontrada associa??o significativa entre as concentra??es plasm?ticas de leptina e sTNFR1 com o escore composto cognitivo (p=0,001) e das concentra??es plasm?ticas de sTNFR1 com o escore composto motor (p=0,003). Todos esses resultados apontaram a presen?a de altera??es neuroend?crino-inflamat?rias em crian?as com sobrepeso/obesidade entre seis e 24 meses de idade. Al?m disso, embora a maior parte das crian?as com sobrepeso/obesidade apresentem desenvolvimento infantil dentro dos limites de normalidade, evidencia-se pior desempenho cognitivo e motor. Por fim, foi demonstrado que maiores concentra??es de sTNFR1 e menores concentra??es de leptina foram associadas com melhores desfechos de desenvolvimento infantil nessa faixa et?ria. / Tese (Doutorado) ? Programa Multic?ntrico de P?s-Gradua??o em Ci?ncias Fisiol?gicas, Universidade Federal dos Vales do Jequitinhonha e Mucuri, 2016. / Childhood obesity is one of the world?s most serious public health issues. Studies have demonstrated dysregulated secretion pattern of adipokines, cortisol, brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), as well as chronic low-grade inflammation and redox imbalance in school-age overweight or obese children. Overweight/obese infants also had lower cognitive and motor development scores. Although the literature points out that the first 24 months of life represent an important period for the development of childhood obesity, it is not known whether overweight/obese infants in this age interval present alterations in neuroendocrine inflammatory parameters, with possible impact on child development. Then, the objectives of this study were: 1) to analyze the plasmatic levels of adipokines and BDNF, serum cortisol and redox status in overweight/obese infants between 6 and 24 months of age; 2) to evaluate the cognitive and motor development in overweight/obese infants between 6 and 24 months of age and; 3) to verify the association of the biomarkers evaluated with cognitive and motor development in this age interval. A cross-sectional study was conducted with infants with overweight/obesity and normal-weight between 6 and 24 months enrolled in Family Health Strategies. Plasma leptin, adiponectin, resistin, BDNF, soluble tumour necrosis factor receptors 1 and 2 (sTNFR1, sTNFR2), and serum cortisol levels were measured using conventional ELISA kits. Plasma chemokines were measured using the cytometric bead arrays kit, and oxidative stress was assessed by thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS) concentration, enzymes catalase (CAT) and dismutase superoxide (SOD) activity, as well by ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP). Infant development was performed using the Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development, 3rd edition (Bayley-III). A t test for independent samples was performed to compare the groups and Pearson and Spearman correlation was used to verify the association between parameters. Multiple linear stepwise regression models were utilized to verify the association between the biomarkers selected and cognitive and motor composite scores. Plasma levels of leptin (p=0.0001), adiponectin (p=0.0007), BDNF (p=0.003) and serum cortisol (p=0.048) were significantly higher in overweight/obese infants. In contrast, concentration of TBARS (p=0.004), CAT (p=0.045) and SOD activity (p=0.02) were lower in overweight/obese infants. There were no differences in the levels of chemokines, sTNFR1, sTNFR2, resistin and FRAP between groups (p>0.05). Moreover, overweight/obese infants had lower cognitive (p=0.03) and motor (p=0.04) development scores than normal-weight infants. A significant association of plasma leptin and sTNFR1 levels with cognitive composite scores (p=0.001) were found and plasma sTNFR1 levels were associated with motor composite scores (p=0.003). All these results point out neuroendocrine inflammatory response changes in overweight/obese infants between 6 and 24 months. Moreover, although most of overweight/obese infants have presented cognitive and motor development within normal limits, there is evidence of worse cognitive and motor performance. Finally, high sTNFR1 and low leptin levels were associated with increase developmental outcomes in infants in this age interval.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-06-02T19:46:05Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 2340.pdf: 590880 bytes, checksum: 577464dd148d47bc60a87a37af5cb726 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2009-02-26 / The scientific literature indicates that certain family characteristics can act as risk factors for children s social development, such as low income and low educational attainment levels, adolescent pregnancy, social isolation, parents who are highly stressed, single-parent families, a parent with a psychiatric disorder (including depression), parents with a criminal history, a history of drug abuse, or a high-conflict spousal relationship. More detailed information about some of these factors is lacking, particularly with respect to the Brazilian context, as in the case of spousal conflicts. Such information is essential to permit the construction of preventive programs that could reduce risk factors for infant social development, in Brazil. Risk factors can contribute to the development of problem behaviors among children and, as a result, interfere in their social relationships, as well as contributing to other difficulties such as learning problems, depression, anxiety and other psychological conditions. For this reason, the identification and prevention of risk factors that can harm human development is one of the research areas of the Special Education Graduate Program at the Federal University of São Carlos (Brazil). Although the number of Special Education prevention programs has increased significantly, especially in the United States, there are few prevention programs in this area, in Brazil, resulting in a situation in which professionals face the difficult task of remediating long-term problems. Considering the paucity of Brazilian studies that aim to verify the impacts of conflicts in the spousal relationship on infant social development, particularly among very young infants, the objective of this study was to investigate the relationships between personal parent-characteristics, characteristics of the spousal relationship and the social performance of their child, between one and two years of age. Given the exploratory nature of this study, a non-experimental design was used. Participants included 27 couples and their target child, who was between 15 and 26 months of age and who attended a daycare center in the city of Araraquara, São Paulo, Brazil. The parents completed an instrument to evaluate their socioeconomic situation, a Marital Social Skills Inventory, a Description of Conflict Situations, and Lipp s Adult Stress Symptoms Inventory. The Operationalized Portage Inventory was used to evaluate the children s social performance. Although there was a certain amount of variability in the participants responses, the correlations between the parents personal characteristics and their child s social performance were non-significant. With respect to the parents marital social skills, in this sample, there was a significant negative correlation between the frequency with which the parents reported that they stomped out of the room, and the child s social performance (r = - 0.48, p < 0.05). Using the results from this study together with those from other studies about this topic, it should be possible to create programs that can help prevent problems in families with children in this age group, striving to provide them with the means to transform some of the characteristics of their spousal relationship so that they will be protective factors for their child s development. / A literatura científica tem apontado algumas características familiares como fatores de risco para o desenvolvimento social das crianças, como por exemplo, baixa renda, baixa escolaridade, gravidez na adolescência, o isolamento social da família, pais vivendo com estresse elevado, famílias monoparentais, doença psiquiátrica parental (incluindo depressão), história parental criminal, história de abuso de substâncias, ou alto grau de conflitos conjugais. Alguns destes fatores, como no caso de conflitos conjugais, carecem de informações mais detalhadas, obtidas no contexto brasileiro, as quais são essenciais para fundamentar a construção de programas de prevenção para reduzir fatores de risco ao desenvolvimento infantil social, no Brasil. Os fatores de risco podem contribuir para o desenvolvimento de problemas de comportamento por parte das crianças e, conseqüentemente, prejudicarem seu convívio social, além de serem possíveis fontes para outros problemas como dificuldades de aprendizagem, depressão, ansiedade e outros quadros psicológicos. Em função disso, a identificação e prevenção dos fatores de risco que possam prejudicar o desenvolvimento humano é uma das áreas de estudo do Programa de Pós-Graduação em Educação Especial da Universidade Federal de São Carlos. Embora o número de programas de prevenção em Educação Especial tenha crescido significativamente, especialmente nos Estados Unidos, no Brasil pouco se fala em programas preventivos nesta área, restando aos profissionais que trabalham com esta população a difícil tarefa de remediar problemas de longa data. Considerando a escassez de estudos brasileiros que tenham como objetivo verificar os impactos de conflitos na relação conjugal no desenvolvimento social infantil especialmente com crianças muito pequenas, o objetivo deste estudo foi a investigação das relações entre características pessoais dos pais, características do relacionamento conjugal e o desempenho social de crianças na faixa etária de um a dois anos. Por se tratar de um estudo exploratório, o delineamento não-experimental foi utilizado. Participaram deste estudo 27 casais e seu filho-alvo, com idade entre 15 e 26 meses, matriculado em uma creche da cidade de Araraquara SP. Os pais preencheram um instrumento sobre seu perfil sócio-econômico, o Inventário de Habilidades Sociais Conjugais, uma Descrição das Situações de Conflito e o Inventário de sintomas de Stress para Adultos de Lipp. Para a avaliação do desempenho social das crianças o Inventário Portage Operacionalizado foi utilizado. Embora tenha existido certo grau de variação nas respostas dos participantes, não foram encontradas correlações significativas entre as características dos pais e o desempenho social das crianças. Com relação às habilidades sociais conjugais dos pais, houve uma correlação negativa significativa entre a freqüência com que o pai relatava que sai do lugar em que estava com seu parceiro, batendo o pé, e o desenvolvimento social das crianças desta amostra (r = - 0,48; p < 0,05). Espera-se que os resultados obtidos por este estudo e outros sobre a mesma temática possam ser utilizados como base para programas que tenham como objetivo trabalhar preventivamente com as famílias de crianças nesta faixa etária, a fim de instrumentalizá-los a transformar algumas das características de seu relacionamento conjugal em fatores de proteção para o desenvolvimento do seu filho.

Orientador: Ivone Panhoca / Tese (doutorado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Faculdade de Ciencias Medicas / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-11T20:22:38Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Caramuru_MartaMariaFonteneleeSilva_D.pdf: 2355703 bytes, checksum: 5472a3a349520db15293addb32ae705c (MD5) Previous issue date: 2008 / Resumo: Este trabalho tem como objetivo mostrar, através de recortes de um caso clínico, que as vivências emocionais primitivas do vínculo do bebê com sua mãe repercutem na constituição do psiquismo e no processo de formação de símbolos da criança, interferem em seu rendimento escolar e são vivências possíveis de elaboração pelo brincar, na psicoterapia psicanalítica. A pesquisa aqui desenvolvida é um estudo do caso clínico de uma criança, atendida em psicanálise, no referencial teórico da teoria do desenvolvimento emocional primitivo de Winnicott. Na terapia psicanalítica, foram elaboradas as vivências emocionais primitivas da relação mãe-bebê do paciente no vínculo terapêutico, o que possibilitou a integração egóica e a experiência de self do paciente; a comunicação verbal; o desenvolvimento da criatividade; a capacidade de brincar e a capacidade de lidar com a transicionalidade, elementos essenciais ao processo de formação de símbolos, resultando na melhora do seu rendimento escolar e na retomada de seu desenvolvimento emocional. Concluímos que a psicoterapia psicanalítica, no referencial winnicottiano, por meio da técnica do brincar, possibilitou a correção das experiências de falha ambiental vividas pelo paciente no início de sua vida emocional e também a elaboração dessas experiências emocionais primitivas, que paralisavam ou inibiamo estabelecimento do processo de formação de símbolos da criança e interferiam em seu rendimento escolar / Abstract: This paper aims at showing, through a fragment of a clinical case, that primitive emotional experiences of the baby/mother bonds are reflected in the constitution of a child's psychism and symbol formation process, interfere in the child's school performance and are experiences which can, in psychoanalytical psychotherapy, be elaborated through playing. The research is a study of a clinical case of a child being given psychoanalytical assistance, based on Winnicott's theoretical conception of primitive emotional development. In psychoanalytical therapy process, the primitive emotional experiences of the mother/baby relationships of the patient in the therapeutic bond were elaborated, which enabled the egoic integration and the experience of the patient's self, verbal communication, development of creativity, capacity to play and capacity to deal with transitionality - essential elements in the process of symbol formation - resulting in the improvement of the child's school performance and guiding him/her into resuming his/her emotional development. The conclusion is that, through the technique of playing, in the light of Winnicott's view, psychoanalytical psychotherapy has enabled the correction of environment failure experiences gone through by the patient at the beginning of his/her emotional life and the elaboration of the child's primitive emotional experiences which paralysed or inhibited the establishment of the process of symbols formation and interfered in his/her school performance / Doutorado / Saude da Criança e do Adolescente / Doutor em Saude da Criança e do Adolescente

<p>Infant exposure to the microbial and allergenic content of indoor floor dust has been shown to play a significant role in both the development of, and protection against, allergies and asthma later in life. Resuspension of floor dust during infant locomotion induces a vertical transport of particles to the breathing zone, leading to inhalation exposure to a concentrated cloud of coarse (> 1μm) and fine (≤ 1μm) particles. Resuspension, and subsequent exposure, during periods of active infant locomotion is likely influenced by gait parameters. This dependence has been little explored to date and may play a significant role in floor dust resuspension and exposure associated with forms of locomotion specific to infants. This study explores associations between infant locomotion dynamics and floor dust resuspension and exposure in the indoor environment. Infant gait parameters for walking and physiological characteristics expected to influence dust resuspension and exposure were identified, including: contact frequency (steps min^-1), contact area per step (m²), locomotion speed (m s^-1), breathing zone height (cm), and time-resolved locomotion profiles. Gait parameter datasets for standard gait experiments were collected for infants in three age groups: 12, 15, and 19 months-old (m/o). The gait parameters were integrated with an indoor dust resuspension model through a Monte Carlo framework to predict how age-dependent variations in locomotion affect the resuspension mass emission rate (mg h^-1) for five particle size fractions from 0.3 to 10 μm. Eddy diffusivity coefficients (m² s^-1) were estimated for each age group and used in a particle transport model to determine the vertical particle concentration profile above the floor.</p><p>Probability density functions of contact frequency, contact area, locomotion speed, breathing zone height, and size-resolved resuspension mass emission rates were determined for infants in each group. Infant standard gait contact frequencies were generally in the range of 100 to 300 steps min^-1and increased with age, with median values of 186 steps min^-1for 12 m/o, 207 steps min^-1 for 15 m/o, and 246.2 steps min^-1 for 19 m/o infants. Similarly, locomotion speed increased with age, from 67.3 cm s^-1at 12 m/o to 118.83 cm s^-1 at 19 m/o, as did the breathing zone height, which varied between 60 and 85 cm. Resuspension mass emission rates increased with both infant age and particle size. A 19 m/o infant will resuspend comparably more particles from the same indoor settled dust deposit compared to a 15 m/o or 12 m/o infant. Age-dependent variations in the resuspension mass emission rate and eddy diffusivity coefficient drove changes in the vertical particle concentration profile within the resuspended particle cloud. For all particle size fractions, there is an average of a 6% increase in the resuspended particle concentration at a height of 1 m from the floor for a 19 m/o compared to a 12 m/o infant. Time-resolved locomotion profiles were obtained for infants in natural gait during free play establish the transient nature of walking-induced particle resuspension and associated exposures for infants, with variable periods of active locomotion, no motion, and impulsive falls. This study demonstrates that floor dust resuspension and exposure can be influenced by the nature of infant locomotion patterns, which vary with age and are distinctly different from those for adults.</p>

The purpose of this project is to argue that we possess a minimal self. It will demonstrate that minimal selfhood arrives early in our development and continues to remain and influence us throughout our entire life. There are two areas of research which shape my understanding of the minimal self: phenomenology and enactivism. Phenomenology emphasizes the sense of givenness, ownership, or mineness that accompanies all of our experiences. Enactivism says there is a sensorimotor coupling that occurs between us and the environment in a way which modulates the dynamic patterns of our self development; the laying down of these basic patterns helps make us who we are and gives rise to the phenomenological, experiential mineness. Drawing on these two core ideas, I will be arguing for a Phenomenological-Enactive Minimal Self (abbreviated PEMS). I will be emphasizing the role of the body and the role of affects (moods, feelings, and emotions) as the most important components relevant to understanding minimal selfhood. Put more concretely, the set of conditions which constitute the PEMS view are: (i) The minimal self is the experiential subject; the minimal sense of self is present whenever there is awareness. It is the subjectivity of experience, the sense of mineness, or givenness which our experiences contain. (ii) The phenomenological part of the PEMS view turns on the idea of a bodily and dynamic integration of sensorimotor coupling and affective experience. It is, ontologically speaking, the lived body in enactive engagement with the environment. It is this embodied subject which anchors and forms the foundation for the later ‘narrative' self, which emerges from it and which is continually influenced by it. It is the subject enactively engaged with others, dependent on sensorimotor processes and affects. We have an identity, but it emerges from relational and dynamic processes.

<p>The manifestations of early sleep disturbances on cerebrospinal fluid and their relations with early developmental competencies are understudied. Recent studies highlight cerebrospinal fluid disbursement as a potential factor associated with dysfunctions in brain development. With two studies, we explored sleep and extra-axial cerebrospinal fluid (EA-CSF) connection as a potential mechanistic pathway by which sleep dysregulation influences brain and behavior development. Specifically, we evaluated associations between (1) EA-CSF to total cerebral volume (EA-CSF/TCV) ratios, (2) parent-report of child sleep problems, and (3) social communication development in typical (Study 1) and atypical populations (Study 2). In typical infants, early sleep problems did not precede later elevated EA-CSF/TCV ratios or social-communicative competence. Elevated EA-CSF/TCV ratios were associated with impaired social communication skills, suggesting that a relationship between elevated EA-CSF/TCV ratios and social communication impairments exists regardless of neurological or sleep problems. In an atypical population with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), older children with ASD had similar EA-CSF/TCV ratios to a group of their typically developing peers. Sleep problems were negatively associated with EA-CSF/TCV ratios but positively associated with social-communicative impairments for children with ASD, highlighting the influence of sleep problems on both brain and behavioral outcomes in an atypical population. In both studies, EA-CSF volumes continue to increase during early development in the typically developing populations (but not later in the atypical sample), underlining its relevance as a marker of atypical processing. Recognizing the potential roles of EA-CSF in influencing several biosocial and behavioral aspects of development, we encourage researchers to continue to explore EA-CSF growth, especially during developmental periods of flux and transition. Future work with longitudinal data can also serve to explore sleep-related developmental changes in EA-CSF, in association with behavioral and phenotypic changes. </p>