Reading abilities in preterm children: a systematic review and meta-analysis
Mónica Gutiérrez-Ortega1, Aitor Álvarez-Bardón2, Esperanza Vergara-Moragues3
1Pedagogy Department, Universidad de Valladolid, Valladolid, Spain.
Insights
Children born preterm often face reading challenges. This meta-analysis confirms lower reading and spelling performance in preterm children, highlighting the need for tailored neuroeducational programs.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Developmental Psychology
- Educational Psychology
Background:
- Children born preterm are known to experience specific learning difficulties.
- Reading ability is a critical developmental milestone affected by preterm birth.
Purpose of the Study:
- To conduct a systematic review and meta-analysis on the reading ability performance of children born preterm.
- To identify specific areas of reading deficits in preterm children.
Main Methods:
- Systematic review and meta-analysis of 486 identified studies.
- Inclusion of 53 studies with 143 effect sizes, encompassing 33,500 children (5-18 years).
- Analysis of reading subcategories including letter-word knowledge, reading comprehension, spelling, phonological awareness, and rapid automatized naming.
Main Results:
- Preterm children, particularly those born extremely preterm, demonstrated significantly lower performance in reading comprehension and spelling compared to full-term peers.
- No significant differences were observed in phonological awareness and rapid automatized naming between groups.
- Effect sizes were larger in preterm children without diagnosed neurodevelopmental disorders.
Conclusions:
- Preterm birth is associated with deficits in reading and spelling abilities.
- Neuroeducational programs must be developed to address the unique learning needs of students born preterm.
- Early identification and intervention are crucial for improving reading outcomes in this population.
Abstract:
It is well recognized that children born preterm have specific learning difficulties. The objective of this study is to carry out a systematic review and meta-analysis on preterm children's reading ability performance. Of the 486 studies identified, 53 met the inclusion criteria, resulting in 143 effect sizes. 33,500 children between 5 and 18 years were included of whom 13,765 were preterm infants and 19,735 were full-term infants. Among preterm-born children without neurodevelopmental disorders significant differences and larger effect sizes were found in the reading subcategories, letter-word knowledge, reading comprehension, and spelling, whereas no significant differences were found in phonological awareness and rapid automatized naming. Extremely preterm children showed larger effect size. The present meta-analysis, which includes a much larger number of studies, shows that preterm children have lower performance than full-term children in reading and spelling. This fact underlines the need to design, develop and implement neuroeducational programs that take into account the characteristics of preterm born students.
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