Moderately preterm birth seems to be an evolutional risk condition at cognitive, behavioural and socio-relational levels. The study is aimed to investigate the likely occurrence of precursors of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) in moderately preterm children at preschool age.The research involved an experimental group made up of 50 moderately preterm children (mean: 34.6 weeks’ gestational age, standard deviation [SD]: 2) without any medical and neurologic neonatal complications and low birth weight (mean:2100g., SD: 350g.) and a check group of 50 full term born children. Parents and teachers of children were administered specific questionnaires to detect ADHD.The outcomes show a risk of ADHD highlighting statically significant differences related to gender [F(2, 99) = 2.99, p = .04], birth [F(2, 99) = 9.6, p = .03] and interaction [F(2, 99) = 2.2, p = .01]. The moderately preterm children showed deficit in self-regulation [F(2, 99) = 1.14, p = .04] and attention deficit in daily life both in family [F(2, 99) = 7.8, p = .04] and school contexts [F(1, 99) = 3.3, p = .04].The outcomes hint assessment paths aimed to monitor the aspects of cognitive, motor, behavioural development of moderately preterm children recognised as signs of problematic functioning profiles. Therefore, specific training will have been designed since preschool age in order to control the ADHD risk factors.

The study investigates the preschool readiness of moderately preterm children and, in particular, the likely presence of learning disabilities at preschool age. Its theoretical model detects linguistic comprehension and expression; memory-related metacognition and cognition skills; orientation and motor coordination skills; premathematics and preliteracy ones. The research project involved an experimental group made up of 55 moderately preterm children (mean age062 months, mean gestational age034.6 weeks), without any clinical neonatal complications, and low birth weight (M02,100 g, SD0350 g); a control group made up of 55 full-term children without pre-and perinatal complications. The children's primary school reference teachers were given a questionnaire (Observative Questionnaire for Early Identification of Learning Disabilities), which was aimed at identifying any likely social and cognitive skill deficits at preschool age. The data, submitted to nonparametric univariate variance, show how scores of moderately preterm children in the metacognition [U (n1 en2055) 035, p00.04, r00.49] are statistically lower, other cognitive skills (memory, orientation, and visual-motor coordination) [U (n1en2055) 032, p00.02, r0 0.45], premathematics [U (n1en2055) 032, p00.02, r00.44], and the total score [U (n1en2055) 0 31, p00.02, r00.12]. Such data would seem to suggest the need for hypothesizing preventive training and educational paths as a prerequisite for the development of the school abilities.