Half Of Children Born Extremely Prematurely Require Extra Support In School

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Main Category: Pediatrics / Children's Health
Also Included In: Psychology / Psychiatry;  ADHD;  Mental Health
Article Date: 13 Mar 2009 - 1:00 PST

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Research published in the Fetal and Neonatal Edition of Archives of Disease in Childhood says that more than half of children born severely prematurely require additional educational help in mainstream schools.

The research specifies that they have more trouble with mathematics.

The study included 219 eleven year old schoolchildren who had been born before twenty six weeks of pregnancy in the UK, during 1995. The researchers evaluated intelligence (cognitive ability) and academic skills.

The performance of 153 classmates, all born after a standard time of pregnancy was analyzed in comparison.

The evaluation relied on standard IQ and academic achievement tests, teacher´s reports of school performance and any special educational needs.

In the core subjects of reading and mathematics, children born very prematurely had much inferior scores.

Except in mathematics, boys scored fewer points than girls. This distinction did not exist in the other group.

In the group of children born very prematurely, one in three had difficulty reading, and almost half (44 percent) had trouble with mathematics. These students also showed problems in simultaneous processing of complex information.

Only 29 of the children in the group were at special schools. The rest of the group attended mainstream schools where 57 percent had special educational needs. The majority needed supplementary learning support.

Two thirds of the children required academic and behavioral special educational help whereas only 11 percent of their classmates and 24 percent of schoolchildren across England did. They were as well more likely to require multiple support services than their classmates.

The academic performance of half of the extremely preterm children was rated by the teachers as lower than average, for this age group. Only 5 percent of the children born after a normal length of gestation were beneath the average range.

The authors explain that because their birth date is earlier than expected, most children born prematurely start school an academic year earlier.

Research pointed out that even though the academic performance of these children was very much the same as for those who started school at the regular time, they required even higher levels of special support.

"The impact of these impairments is likely to increase over time," say the authors. "...existing difficulties may be exacerbated in secondary school when cognitive demands increase in parallel with progressively complex academic studies," they conclude.

"Academic attainment and special educational needs in extremely preterm children at 11 years of age: the EPICure study."
Arch Dis Child Fetal Neonatal Ed 2009; doi 10.1136/adc.2008.152793
Click here to view abstract online
Written by Stephanie Brunner (B.A.)

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