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Neuropsychological abilities underpinning academic attainment in children born extremely preterm

Jayne Trickett1, Marialivia Bernardi2, Amanda Fahy2

  • 1Department of Health Sciences, University of Leicester, Leicester, UK.

Child Neuropsychology : a Journal on Normal and Abnormal Development in Childhood and Adolescence
|January 13, 2022
PubMed

Insights

Extremely preterm (EP) children show lower academic achievement. Cognitive skills, particularly visuospatial processing, significantly predict reading and math abilities, suggesting targeted interventions for EP populations.

Area of Science:

  • Neuroscience
  • Developmental Psychology
  • Educational Psychology

Background:

  • Children born extremely preterm (EP) often experience poorer academic outcomes compared to term-born peers.
  • Identifying specific cognitive mechanisms underlying academic difficulties in EP children is crucial for developing effective interventions.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the cognitive mediators of academic attainment in extremely preterm children.
  • To determine the role of executive functions, including working memory and processing speed, in the academic performance of EP individuals.

Main Methods:

  • A parallel mediation analysis was performed on cross-sectional data from 152 EP children (< 27 weeks gestation) and 120 term-born controls at age 11.
  • Academic attainment in mathematics and reading was assessed using the Wechsler Individual Achievement Test, 2nd Edition.
  • Cognitive mediators including verbal/visuospatial working memory, processing speed, attention, and visuospatial processing were evaluated using NEPSY-II and WISC-V subtests.

Main Results:

  • Verbal working memory, visuospatial working memory, visuospatial processing, and verbal processing speed significantly mediated the relationship between EP birth and reading attainment.
  • All five assessed neuropsychological variables mediated the association between EP birth and mathematics attainment, with a direct effect of EP birth remaining.
  • Visuospatial processing emerged as the strongest mediator for both reading and mathematics attainment.

Conclusions:

  • Cognitive abilities, especially visuospatial processing, are critical predictors of academic success in extremely preterm children.
  • Executive function components significantly contribute to academic attainment, explaining a substantial portion of the variance in reading and mathematics.
  • Interventions aimed at enhancing visuospatial skills may be beneficial for improving academic outcomes in extremely preterm populations.

Keywords:
Pretermacademic attainmentattentionmediationprocessing speedvisuospatial processingworking memory

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