School Performance of Elbw Children: A Controlled Study

Abstract

SUMMARY This paper examines the prevalence of learning difficulty in reading, spelling, mathematics and writing and the prevalence of attention deficit disorder (ADD) in extremely low‐birthweight (ELBW) children at school compared to their peers. Parents of 87 eligible ELBW children completed an educational questionnaire and questionnaire for ADD. Teachers of the ELBW children completed a detailed educational and ADD questionnaire for the study child and two control children in the same class, matched for âge and nearest in birth date to the study child. Parents reported that 4% of the ELBW children bom between 1977 and 1986 were in a special education unit, 46% received remedial help and 21% repeated a grade. Teacher assessment of six aspects of reading and spelling and five aspects of mathematics and writing skills indicated that the ELBW children experienced marked problems in all areas compared to control children and were approximately 3 times more likely to be delayed by more than a year in all areas. Prevalence of ADD was not increased in the ELBW children compared to the control group, though males in both groups had a higher prevalence of symptoms. Early intervention and special education resources must be available for ELBW children attending school. RÉSUMÉ Performances scolaires des enfants ELBW: une étude controlée L'article examine la prévalénce des difficultes d'apprentissâge en lecture, orthographe, arithmétique et ecriture, et la prévalence du trouble de deficit d'attention (ADD) chez les enfants d'extramement faible poids de naissance (ELBW) a ľécole, en comparaison avec leurs pairs. Les parents de 87 enfants ELBW choisis remplirent un questionnaire pour le niveau educatif et un autre pour le syndrome ADD. Les enseignants des enfants ELBW remplirent un questionnaire detaille sur le niveau cducatif et le syndrome ADD pour les enfants de l'étude et deux controles par classe. Les parents indiquerent que 4% des enfants ELBW nes entre 1977 et 1986 etaient dans une unite d'education speciale, 46% beneficiaient d'une assistance educative et 21% avaient redouble une classe. L'Evaluation des enseignants sur six aspects de lecture et orthographe, et cinq aspects de mathematiques et ecriture indiquait que les enfants ELBW avaient des difficultes en tous domaines par comparaison avec les controles et avaient environ trois fois plus de chances de presenter un retard de plus d'un an dans toutes les matieres. La prevalence de 1'ADD n'etaii pas plus elevee chcz les enfants ELBW que chez les.controles, bien que les garcons des deux groupes aient presenté une prevalence plus elevee des symptomes. Une intervention precoce et des ressources d'education speciale doivent etre offcrtes aux enfants ELBW frequentant I'école. ZUSAMMENFASSUNG Scludleistungen bei ELBW Kindenv erne kontrollierte Sttidie Diese Arbeit untersucht die Haufigkeit von Schwierigkeiten beim Lesen, Buchstabicren, Rechnen und Schreiben und die Häufigkeit von Aufmcrksamkeitsstörungcn (ADD) bei Schulkindem mit extrem niedrigem Geburtsgewicht (ELBW) verg...

Mathematics deficiencies in children with very low birth weight or very preterm birth

“…Some studies of children with VLBW/VPTM suggest more MD and MLD in males than in females (O'Callaghan et al, 1996;Johnson and Breslau, 2000), though other investigations have not found sex differences in this population (e.g., Saigal et al, 2000;Taylor et al, 2000;Grunau et al, 2004). With respect to potential age differences in MD, impairments on tests of mathematics achievement in VLBW/ VPTB cohorts are evident from the early school-age years and persist into adolescence and young adulthood (Saigal et al, 1990;Taylor et al, 1995;Botting et al, 1998;Saigal et al, 2000;Rickards et al, 2001;Hack et al, 2002).…”

Physiotherapy intervention for 4-5 year old children born extremely preterm and/or extremely low birth weight

“…Furthermore, the authors concluded that specific learning problems and attention deficit tend to co-exist with low IQ score in low birth weight children. In a study by O'Callaghan et al investigating learning and attentional problems in ELBW children compared to a matched control group, it was concluded that school aged ELBW children have a high prevalence of learning difficulty (O'Callaghan et al, 1996). In this particular study, the risk of attention deficit disorder in ELBW children was not increased when compared to the matched control children.…”

“…However, the possible link between maternal factors and neurodevelopmental outcomes has been challenged by O'Callaghan et al, who found that maternal education, maternal age and marital status were not significantly related to later learning difficulty in ELBW children (O'Callaghan et al, 1996). Additionally, Sommerfelt et al found that there were environmental and biological factors that had little influence on later behavioural problems in a study of five year old LBW children (Sommerfelt, Troland, et al, 1996).…”

“…Gender has been proposed as a biological risk factor in extremely preterm infants, with males at greater risk of disability and learning difficulties (Marlow et al, 2005;O'Callaghan et al, 1996), as well as lower school-readiness levels (Oja & Jürimäe, 1997). In a study investigating the association between perinatal factors and outcomes of non-disabled ELBW children at 12 years of age, it was found that male gender correlated with later motor performance .…”

“…It has been proposed that extremely preterm males are at greater risk of disability and learning difficulties (Marlow et al, 2005;O'Callaghan et al, 1996), as well as lower school-readiness levels (Oja & Jürimäe, 1997). Additionally, behavioural problems are more likely to occur when motor or cognitive difficulties are present (Hayes & Sharif, 2009).…”