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Visual perceptive skills account for very preterm children's mathematical difficulties in preschool
Sarit van Veen1, Aleid G van Wassenaer-Leemhuis2, Anton H van Kaam2
1Emma Children's Hospital, Amsterdam UMC, University of Amsterdam, Neonatology, Meibergdreef 9, Amsterdam, the Netherlands; Amsterdam UMC, University of Amsterdam & Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Emma Neuroscience Group at Emma Children's Hospital, Department of Pediatrics, Amsterdam Reproduction & Development, Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
Insights
Very preterm children show lower preschool math skills compared to term-born peers. These deficits are fully explained by poorer visual perceptive skills, highlighting the need for early screening.
Area of Science:
- Developmental Pediatrics
- Cognitive Neuroscience
- Educational Psychology
Background:
- Very preterm (VP) children exhibit deficits in preschool mathematical skills compared to term-born children.
- Preschool math skills are strongly associated with cognitive abilities and visual-motor integration.
Purpose of the Study:
- To compare VP children and term-born peers on preschool mathematical achievement at age five.
- To determine if cognitive, visual-perceptive, visual-motor, and motor-coordination skills mediate differences in mathematical skills.
Main Methods:
- A single-center cohort study included 54 VP children and 28 term-born controls.
- Standardized tests assessed preschool math, cognitive skills, visual-perception, visual-motor integration, and motor coordination.
- ANCOVAs and Sobel's mediation analyses were used to compare groups and test mediation effects.
Main Results:
- VP children had significantly lower preschool mathematical skills (d=0.63, p=0.01) and visual perceptive skills (d=0.84, p<0.01) than term-born children.
- Visual perceptive skills significantly mediated the relationship between VP birth and preschool mathematical skills.
Conclusions:
- VP children demonstrate poorer preschool mathematical skills, fully accounted for by deficits in visual perceptive skills.
- Screening for visual perceptive skills in preschool children is crucial for identifying those at risk for mathematical difficulties.
Background:
Already in preschool, very preterm (VP) children perform worse than term born-children on preschool mathematical skills tests. Strong associations have been found between preschool mathematical skills, cognition and visual-motor integration.
Aims:
To compare VP children and their term-born peers on preschool mathematical achievement at the corrected age of five years, and determine whether cognitive, visual-perceptive, visual-motor, and motor-coordination skills, account for any significant differences observed.
Study Design:
Single-center, consecutive cohort study with a term-born comparison group.
Subjects:
54 five-year-old VP children and 28 term-born comparison children.
Outcome Measures:
Standardized test for preschool mathematical skills (Dutch pupil monitoring system), cognitive skills (Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale for Intelligence - third edition), visual-perception, visual-motor integration, and motor-coordination (Beery Visual-Motor Integration test - sixth edition). Group differences were analyzed with ANCOVAs, adjusting for maternal education, preschool grade, and time of assessment. Sobel's mediation analyses tested for possible mediation effects.
Results:
Preschool mathematical skills and visual perceptive skills were significantly lower in VP children than in term-born children (Cohen's d = 0.63, p = 0.01; Cohen's d = 0.84, p < 0.01, respectively). Sobel's test indicated a significant mediating effect of visual perceptive skills on the association between VP birth and preschool mathematical skills.
Conclusions:
At preschool age, VP children have poorer preschool mathematical skills compared to term-born peers; deficits that were fully accounted for by poor visual perceptive skills. Our findings indicate the relevance of screening visual perceptive skills at preschool age, enabling timely identification of children at risk for mathematical difficulties.