Premature babies perform lower than average at school
Premature babies and their development as they transition to school has been studied over the past 10 years with the assistance of the Canterbury Medical Research Foundation (CMRF).
“We found that children born very premature (between 23 to 33 weeks gestation) were two to four times more likely than their peers to be rated by their teachers as performing at below average levels in mathematics, reading, writing, language and physical education,” says project head Associate Professor Lianne Woodward from the University of Canterbury’s Psychology Department.
“They also tended to achieve less well in national curriculum assessments of mathematics, reading and writing.”
The development of the 100 children involved in the study has been tracked since they were born prematurely between 23 and 33 weeks at Christchurch Women’s Hospital from December 1998 to 2000.
At age six years, study children have been at school for about a year and this stage of the project has been funded by the Canterbury Medical Research Foundation.
“Like all parents, the parents of very premature children want their children to be happy and do well at school,” says Associate Professor Woodward.
The group is studied alongside a large group of children of the same age who were not born prematurely.
The results showing such clear signs of early school difficulties among premature children were not completely expected by the project team.
“We expected that differences in achievement might not emerge until later in children’s schooling. Findings do suggest that it may be important to put in additional supports for these children and families to help ensure the transition to school is a success and that early school progress is monitored,” says Carrie Clark, a PhD student working on the project.
At the age of six, the children were seen by the research team at the University’s Child Development House where they take part in a range of problem solving games and educational tests. Teachers also provided information about each child’s progress at school and any testing data they collected, such as children’s six year NET results.
“We felt it was very important to get inside the classroom and assess children’s school progress in relation to the New Zealand school curriculum. Most existing studies have tended to use very global laboratory based measures that tell you very little about how to make learning easier for these children,” she says.
Previous international research showed that a substantial number of premature children do experience learning and behavioural difficulties that affect their school progress in the middle and high school years.
“However, we still know very little about why some children experience difficulties but others do not despite the challenge of having been being born too early,” says Associate Professor Woodward.
Results from the study will provide valuable information to paediatricians, early intervention specialists and educators to assist parent counselling and the development of effective intervention strategies to support and optimise the longer term development of premature babies.
“We are very thankful to the Canterbury Medical Research Foundation for their support of this valuable long term research project,” says Associate Professor Woodward.