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Educational status and school-related abilities of very low birth weight premature children
1Department of Pediatrics, Cornell University Medical College, New York, New York.
Insights
Premature children born weighing 1500g or less often need special education. Even those without neurological issues show lower academic achievement compared to full-term peers.
Area of Science:
- Developmental Pediatrics
- Educational Psychology
Background:
- Premature birth (birth weight ≤ 1500g) can impact long-term development.
- Academic outcomes for extremely premature children require further investigation.
Purpose of the Study:
- To compare the academic status of premature children with a matched full-term group.
- To identify factors influencing academic performance in premature children.
Main Methods:
- Evaluation of 88 premature children (birth weight ≤ 1500g) and a matched full-term group at 7-8 years old.
- Assessment of academic status, cognitive abilities (IQ, verbal, memory, attention), and neurological status.
- Analysis of socioeconomic status and its interaction with prematurity.
Main Results:
- Premature children had significantly higher rates of requiring special educational interventions (48%) compared to full-term children (15%).
- Premature children performed significantly worse on IQ, verbal ability, academic achievement, and auditory memory tests.
- Lower socioeconomic status exacerbated cognitive and academic deficits in premature children.
Conclusions:
- Premature birth is associated with significant academic challenges, even in children with normal neurological status and IQ.
- Socioeconomic factors play a crucial role in the academic outcomes of premature children.
- Early identification and targeted educational support are vital for premature children.
Abstract:
Eighty-eight premature children with birth weights less than or equal to 1500 g were evaluated at ages between 7 and 8 years old to determine their academic status in comparison with those of a matched full-term group. Results showed that a much higher proportion of the premature children required special educational interventions (48%) than either the full-term children (15%) or the New York State public elementary school population (10%). More than half of the premature children who received educational intervention were neurologically impaired or had below normal intelligence. The entire group of premature children differed significantly from the matched full-term group on IQ score and on tests of verbal ability, school achievement, and auditory memory. Lower socioeconomic status children performed significantly less well on each type of these measures and on a measure of attention than children of the higher socioeconomic status group. There was an interaction of prematurity and social class on Full Scale IQ, verbal tests, academic achievement, and attention, with lower socioeconomic status premature children scoring lowest on these measures. The subset of premature children normal in both IQ and neurologic status did not differ significantly from a matched normal full-term group on any cognitive measures other than arithmetic ability, but they continued to have significantly lower academic achievement scores.