Mathematics difficulties in extremely preterm children: evidence of a specific deficit in basic mathematics...

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Developmental Psychology
• Pediatrics

Background:

• Extremely preterm (EP) children (<26 weeks gestation) exhibit lower academic achievement than term-born peers, particularly in mathematics.
• This study explores the underlying reasons for mathematical difficulties in EP children.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the relationship between numerical representations and mathematical achievement in extremely preterm children.
• To compare these relationships with those in term-born children.

Main Methods:

• Compared 219 EP children with 153 term-born controls at 11 years of age.
• Administered standardized cognitive tests and a number estimation test to assess numerical representations.
• Analyzed the correlation between number representation performance and mathematical achievement, controlling for cognitive ability.

Main Results:

• EP children scored lower on all cognitive and numerical tests compared to term controls (P < 0.001).
• A significant association between number representations and mathematical performance was found in EP children (r = 0.346, P < 0.001) but not in controls (r = 0.095, P = 0.256), even after controlling for cognitive ability.

Conclusions:

• Deficits in numerical representations may underlie mathematical difficulties in extremely preterm children.
• Interventions aimed at improving numerical representations could potentially enhance mathematical skills in this population.