Developmental follow-up program
Under the guidance of Raye-Ann deRegnier, MD, our developmental follow-up program continues to advance at a rapid pace. The program provides weekly developmental follow-up services for premature babies who have “graduated” from the NICU at Children's Memorial. The infants' long-term progress is monitored by a team of physical therapists, psychologists and others. This monitoring not only helps patients who are treated in the program but it also provides vital information that will help our caregivers improve the care that countless other premature babies receive over time.
The program currently cares for about 300 patients annually, and Dr. deRegnier projects an increase soon to approximately 400 patients. Many infants require only developmental screening as well as advice and reassurance to the parents, but the program also serves infants with developmental impairments. For most children, outpatient visits are scheduled every six to twelve months until the age of three or four. Dr. deRegnier hopes to add the services of a social worker to the program's comprehensive range of support services to help families navigate and access the community resources they need. The program also intends to encourage reading to babies and young children, thus fostering their language development.
More about Dr. deRegnier
In addition to clinical work, deRegnier pursues research in neonatal development, including projects on memory development in infants with intrauterine growth restriction and premature infants, as well as identification of risk factors for iron deficiency anemia in former preterm infants. The follow-up clinics also participate in multicenter studies evaluating possible long term benefits of medications given in research studies to pregnant women and NICU patients.