Learning Abilities in a Population of Italian Healthy Preterm Children at the End of Primary School

Abstract

Background: Delays in learning skills have been extensively reported for very preterm children. However, few studies have examined academic achievement profiles in Italian preterm children as a function of their neonatal immaturity. Methods: A cross-sectional study was performed that included 82 healthy Italian children born very and extremely preterm (without major neurosensory outcomes; IQ ≥85). Children were evaluated for academic and neurocognitive performances at the second cycle of primary school. Results: Healthy preterm children showed on average academic and neurocognitive profiles that did not differ according to gestational age. Impairment was seen to one or more learning domains in 14.6% of the healthy preterm children. Conclusions: Italian children born very and extremely preterm without major neurosensory damage and/or cognitive delay showed on average learning and neurocognitive profiles within the normal range, regardless of gestational age. Nevertheless, they showed higher proportions of learning impairment than a normative Italian population during their final years of primary school. Healthcare providers should be aware of this result, and long-term surveillance should be organized to promptly identify those children who are in need of therapeutic intervention.

Probing the Impact of Prematurity on Segmentation Abilities in the Context of Bilingualism

“…In recent decades, significant advances in perinatal and neonatal care have improved the survival rates of preterm infants, leading to increased interest in the cognitive developmental outcomes of this population. Studies on preterm children have often found reduced cognitive abilities and higher risks for developmental delay than in full-term populations, e.g., [ 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 ], although no delay was found in [ 6 ]. These difficulties include language deficits, e.g., [ 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 ] (but see [ 12 ] for a study failing to find deficits), related to different linguistic domains, such as the phonological [ 13 ], lexical [ 5 , 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 ], and syntactic [ 13 , 21 , 22 ] domains.…”

Special Issue: Preterm Birth: Research, Intervention and Developmental Outcomes

“…Some articles reveal that preterm participants show significant differences with respect to normative values and control groups. A higher incidence of learning impairments in very preterm children (gestational age < 33 weeks), compared to normative values, is described at the end of primary school [ 4 ]. Delays in very preterm samples (<32 weeks and very low birth weight < 1500 g) also persist into adulthood [ 5 ].…”