Bayley Scales Being Used to Study How Babies Play After Surviving Bladder Outlet Obstruction

How do babies treated prenatally for bladder outlet obstruction (BOO) think and learn after birth? Is their brain development affected because of the BOO they experienced before they were born? Cincinnati Fetal Care Center is leading a research study aimed at finding the answers to these questions and more.

The 10-year study includes patients who were treated for BOO with expectant management (watching and waiting), conservative therapies (amnioinfusions), or surgery (bother open uterine surgeries and fetoscopic surgery).

“We want to understand what the long-term effects are of the treatments that babies with BOO go through,” said Ron Jaekle, MD, maternal-fetal medicine specialist with the Cincinnati Fetal Care Center. “The results of this study will help us better prepare families affected by BOO in the future.”

One of the evaluations being used in this study are the Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development (BSID). This tool helps to assess how a child is developing. The BSID are a play-based, non-invasive group of tests used to measure five different areas of a child’s development: cognitive, receptive language, expressive language, fine motor, and gross motor. These tests are known worldwide as one of the best tools that assess children as young as 1 month old and up to 42 months old.

The BSID evaluate children in each of these areas:

• Cognitive Scale. Looks at how a child thinks and learns.
  Examples: Identifying shapes, counting, putting puzzles together
• Receptive Language. Looks at how a child understands spoken words and directions.
  Examples: Identifying body parts, following directions, understanding pronouns
• Expressive Language. Looks at how a child communicates with sounds and words.
  Examples: Identifying pictures such as apples or cars, naming actions in the pictures
• Fine Motor. Looks at how a child uses his or her fingers and hands.
  Examples: Coloring, putting coins in a piggy bank, drawing shapes
• Gross Motor. Looks at how a child moves his or her body.
  Examples: Going up and down stairs, running, jumping, imitating movement

“The Bayley Scales are a well-respected way we can look at how children are developing as they grow,” Jaekle said. “The findings that come from this will help us to better prepare families who need treatment for BOO, for how their child’s future development might be impacted by this."

How to Participate

What: Children will take part in the Bayley Scales testing which will last 1-1/2 to 2 hours for each child.

Where: Testing will take place at our new research building on the main campus at Cincinnati Children’s.

Who: Children between the ages of 22-26 months and 33-39 months who were treated for BOO with expectant management (watching and waiting), amnioinfusion (adding fluid around the baby through a long needle), or surgery (either open uterine surgery or fetoscopic surgery)

Families will receive a gift card for their time and effort. Contact Arielle Wilson at 513-803-8036 for more information.