Compared to other high-risk populations, few studies have documented the long-term developmental outcome of full-term SGA infants. This study compared full-term SGA (n=61) and AGA (n=27) infants on a play/teach mother-infant interaction paradigm at 8 months and cognitive testing at 3 years using the Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence-Revised (WPPSI-R). The SGA and AGA samples did not differ on infant or maternal characteristics, except birthweight as expected (p<.05): Table

Table 1
Full size table

At 8 months of age during free play, SGA infants mouthed objects more (7.8 vs 4.6), had less reciprocal play (.45 vs.91), and demonstrated less positive affect (4.8 vs 5.4) than AGA infants (p's <.05). While teaching their infants, mothers of SGA infants demonstrated tasks less often (6.0 vs 7.4) and verbalized fewer questions (3.6 vs 5.8) than mothers of AGA infants(p's<.05). At 3 years of age, SGA infants had lower Verbal IQ scores(p<.05) than AGA infants (92.0±10.5 vs 98.2±14.8). Less reciprocal infant play and maternal questioning during teaching (p<.05) at 8 months was associated with lower Verbal IQ at 3 years. We conclude that full-term SGA infants and their mothers have poorer early play and teaching interactions that are associated with lower preschool Verbal IQ. These findings have implications for the development of SGA infants, early mother-infant interactions, and clinical intervention.