Motor System Development of the Preterm and Low Birthweight Infant Julia B. Pitcher, PhD a, *, Luke A. Schneider, PhD a , John L. Drysdale, BAppSc(Phty) Hons a , Michael C. Ridding, PhD a , Julie A. Owens, PhD b Impaired motor and cognitive development remain the 2 major adverse outcomes of preterm birth, despite advances in neonatal care. 1 Up to 50% of preterm children without cerebral palsy have motor difficulties and show adverse neurologic signs at school age that, although often subtle, substantially affect their motor and cognitive development, educational achievement, and social adjustment. 2–7 These develop- mental difficulties are not confined to the very preterm. There is emerging evidence that late preterm children (ie, those born between 33 and 36 completed weeks’ gesta- tional age [GA]) also experience significant motor, cognitive, and behavioral difficulties at school age. The importance of this neglected area of child health was recently high- lighted in several editorials in the Journal of Pediatrics, in which the issue of the health of the late preterm child was identified as a “new disease.” 8–10 This motor and cogni- tive dysfunction of prematurity often co-occurs, suggesting a similar underlying pathology. New evidence in the basic science literature indicates that the motor areas of the brain also contribute to cognitive processes, including speech perception and This work was supported by research grants from the Australian National Health and Medical Research Council (299087 and 565344), the M.S. McLeod Trust, the Women’s and Children’s Hospital Research Foundation and the South Australian Channel 7 Children’s Research Foundation. The authors have nothing to disclose. a Neuromotor Plasticity and Development, DX 650-517 Robinson Institute, Discipline of Obstet- rics and Gynaecology, School of Paediatrics and Reproductive Health, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, Australia b Research Centre for the Early Origins of Health and Disease, DX 650-521 Robinson Institute, Discipline of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, School of Paediatrics and Reproductive Health, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, Australia * Corresponding author. E-mail address: julia.pitcher@adelaide.edu.au KEYWORDS  Motor system development  Preterm infant  Low birthweight infant Clin Perinatol 38 (2011) 605–625 doi:10.1016/j.clp.2011.08.010 perinatology.theclinics.com 0095-5108/11/$ – see front matter Ó 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.