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Intelligence test at preschool-age predicts reading difficulty among school-aged very low birth weight infants in
Akihito Takeuchi1, Tatsuya Ogino2, Tatsuya Koeda3
1Department of Neonatology, Okayama Medical Center, National Hospital Organization, Okayama, Japan.
Insights
Preschool intelligence test scores, specifically lower freedom from distractibility (FD), can predict reading difficulty in very low birth weight infants. This highlights attention and verbal working memory as key factors for early intervention in at-risk children.
Area of Science:
- Developmental Psychology
- Pediatric Neurology
- Educational Psychology
Background:
- Very low birth weight infants (VLBWI) are at increased risk for developmental challenges, including reading difficulty (RD).
- Early identification of predictive factors for RD is crucial for timely intervention in VLBWI.
- Preschool cognitive assessments may offer insights into later academic outcomes.
Purpose of the Study:
- To determine if preschool intelligence test results predict school-age reading difficulty in very low birth weight infants.
- To investigate the predictive value of specific cognitive domains measured by the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-III (WISC-III) for RD.
- To establish a predictive cutoff score for identifying VLBWI at risk for RD.
Main Methods:
- Longitudinal study of 48 Japanese VLBWI (birth weight <1500g) with WISC-III at preschool and reading assessments in elementary school.
- Participants had a full-scale IQ of 85 or higher; RD was defined by performance on standardized reading tasks.
- Logistic regression and Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) analyses were used to assess the association between WISC-III scores and RD.
Main Results:
- A lower score in freedom from distractibility (FD) on the WISC-III was significantly associated with an increased risk of reading difficulty.
- The adjusted odds ratio for RD per 1-point increase in FD was 0.832 (95% CI: 0.720-0.962).
- An FD score below 95.5 was identified as a cutoff predictive of RD, with a sensitivity of 0.77 and specificity of 0.74.
Conclusions:
- Lower preschool freedom from distractibility (FD), reflecting deficits in verbal working memory and attention, is a risk factor for school-age reading difficulty in Japanese VLBWI.
- These findings underscore the importance of assessing attention and verbal working memory in VLBWI for early RD risk identification.
- Further research is needed to understand the cognitive underpinnings of RD in Japanese-speaking preterm children and to develop targeted interventions.
Objective:
To elucidate whether the results of an intelligence test at preschool age are predictive of reading difficulty (RD) at school age among very low birth weight infants (VLBWI).
Methods:
Subjects were 48 Japanese children whose birth weight was <1500 g and who regularly visited a follow-up clinic. All subjects completed the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-III (WISC-III) during the last grade of kindergarten, and four reading tasks during the second to fourth grade of elementary school. All participants had a full-scale intelligence quotient score of 85 or higher. Subjects with a standard deviation reading time score greater than 2.0 in two or more tasks were considered to have RD. We evaluated the associations between each WISC-III score and RD using logistic regression analyses. Furthermore, we performed receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis to determine a cutoff WISC-III score predictive of RD.
Results:
In the mutually-adjusted model, the adjusted odds ratio per 1 score increase of freedom from distractibility (FD) was 0.832 (95% confidence interval: 0.720-0.962). In the ROC analysis, an FD score of <95.5 was chosen as the cutoff value for predicting RD (sensitivity, 0.77; specificity, 0.74).
Conclusion:
The present study indicated that a lower FD score at preschool age, which was associated with deficits in verbal working memory and attention, is a risk factor for RD at school age among Japanese VLBWI. Further investigation is desired to clarify the cognitive deficits underlying RD in Japanese-speaking preterm children, and to establish appropriate interventions for these children.
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