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Developmental Course of Very Preterm Children in Relation to School Outcome

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Objective: Developmental course of preterm and term children is studied within a prospective longitudinal design in relation to school outcome at 10 years of age. Methods: Differences between the term and preterm children were studied in somatic, neuro- motor, cognitive and socio-emotional development. In addition, comparisons were made concerning the developmental course of the subgroup of preterm children attending age appropriate school classes at 10 years of age, and the subgroup of preterms that showed school problems, reflecting a history of grade retention or attendance of special education school. Results: Term and preterm children differed in all developmental domains. The subgroup of preterms without school problems is characterized by less serious neonatal difficulties, better drinking capacities in the first month, faster early head growth and better early mental and motor development. Cognitive developmental course gradually diverged during the first two years between the preterm subgroups and seemed to stabilize thereafter.

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This study was supported by the Praeventiefonds, The Hague (grant: 28-868, 28-856-1), The Netherlands. We thank the children, their parents and their teachers for their cooperation.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology and Health, Pediatric Psychology, FSW, Tilburg University, room P 704, PO Box 90153, 5000, LE, Tilburg, The Netherlands

    Anneloes L. van Baar

  2. Departement of Pediatrics, Deventer Hospital, Deventer, The Netherlands

    Kees Ultee

  3. Department of Child Psychiatry, Academic Medical Center, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

    W. Boudewijn Gunning

  4. Emma Children’s Hospital, Department of Neonatology, Academic Medical Center, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

    Sri Soepatmi & Richard de Leeuw

Authors
  1. Anneloes L. van Baar
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  2. Kees Ultee
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  3. W. Boudewijn Gunning
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  4. Sri Soepatmi
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Anneloes L. van Baar.

Appendices

APPENDIX

MEASUREMENT PROTOCOL, NUMBER OF INFANTS AND (SUB-)GROUP DIFFERENCES

A=Preterm: School okay

B=Preterm: School problems

C=Preterm: total group

D=Term: total group

Agea

Examination

A

B

C

D

Term age

Dubowitz: Neonatal neurological examination

14

19

37

34*

 

(Dubowitz and Dubowitz, 1981)

    

,,

EEG: Electro-Encephalo-Gram

14

17

35

33*

,,

NBAS: Neonatal Behavioral Assessment Scale

15

19

38

35*

 

(Brazelton, 1973)

    

,,

Activity: Motility assessed during bath

15

19

38

35*

1 month

NBAS

14

19

37

35*

,,

Activity

14

18

36

35

,,

Interaction: observed during feeding

15

19”

37

34*

,,

Broussard: Questionnaire on perceptions of

15

18

37

35

 

child (Broussard and Hartner, 1971)

    

,,

Interview on socio-economic background

15

19

38

35

3 months

Activity

14

19

36

34*

,,

Pediatric examination: health and growth

14

19

38

34*

6 months

Touwen: Neurological examination (Touwen, 1976)

15

18

34

35

,,

HOME: Home Observation and Measurement of the

15

19

37

35

 

Environment (Caldwell and Bradley, 1978)

    

,,

Bayley: The Bayley Scales of Infant Development

15

19

36

35

 

(Van der Meulen and Smrkovsky, 1983; Bayley, 1969)

    

,,

Activity

15

19

36

35

,,

Pediatric examination

15

19

36

35*

9 months

Temperament: Infant Behavior Questionnaire (Rothbart, 1981)

15

16

31

33

,,

Interaction: observed during play

12

17

32

31*

,,

Pediatric examination

13

17

31

28*

12 months

Touwen

15

18

34

33*

,,

EEG

14

18

34

33

,,

Bayley

15

18”

35

33*

,,

Pediatric examination

15

19

35

35*

,,

SSP: Strange Situation Procedure (Ainsworth et al., 1978)

13

16

31

33

18 months

Bayley

15

19

36

34

,,

HOME

13

19

33

31*

,,

Activity questionnaire: according to the Werry-Weiss-Peters Activity Scale (Werry et al., 1966)

14

17

33

32*

,,

Interaction observation during play and dinner

13

19

32

33*

,,

Pediatric examination

14

17

33

33*

24 months

Bayley

14

19”

35

34*

,,

Activity questionnaire

13

14

27

30

,,

Pediatric examination

14

19

35

34*

30 months

Bayley

13

16”

30

34*

,,

Activity questionnaire

14

14

29

30*

,,

Pediatric examination

12

16

29

33*

31/2 years

SON 2 1/2-7: Snijders-Oomen Non-verbal intelligence-scale (Snijders and Snijders-Oomen, 1975)

15

18”

35

32*

,,

Pediatric examination

14

17

32

32*

4 years

Reynell: Reynell Developmental Language Scales

15

17”

34

32*

 

(Bomers and Mugge, 1982; Reynell and Huntley, 1985)

    

,,

EASI: Emotionality, Activity, Sociability,

15

16

33

32*

 

Impulsivity scale; (Buss and Plomin, 1975)

    

,,

Examination of vision: Method Fooks, Landolt-C, Fly-test

15

17

34

31

41/2 years

RAKIT: Revision of Amsterdamse Kinder-Intelligen-tie Test, short form (Bleichrodt et al., 1984)

14

14”

30

31*

,,

CBCL: Child Behavior Check List, (Verhulst, 1985; Achenbach, 1991a)

14

18”

34

31*

,,

Pediatric examination

14

15

33

31*

5 years

Bruininks-Oseretsky: Bruininks-Oseretsky test of Motor Proficiency (Bruininks, 1978)

14

14

29

32

,,

Examination of hearing: audiogram, tympanogram

14

14

29

32

,,

NCKS: Nijmegen-California Kinder-Sorteertechniek

15

15

31

32*

 

(Q-sort, by parents); (CCQ; Block and Block, 1976; Van Lieshout et al., 1988)

    

,,

NCKS: Nijmegen-California Kinder-Sorteertechniek

15

15”

30

31

 

(Q-sort, by teachers); (CCQ; Block and Block, 1976; Van Lieshout et al., 1988)

    

51/2 years

RAKIT

15

15”

31

31*

,,

CBCL

15

16

32

31*

,,

Pediatric examination

15

14

31

32*

10 years

Wechsler intelligence scale for children (WISC; Van Haassen et al., 1986)

12

16”

28

30*

,,

CBCL

14

17”

31

31

,,

Teacher Report Form (TRF; Achenbach, 1991b)

12

15

27

32*

,,

Psychiatric interview

11

17

28

29*

,,

Minor neurological dysfunction (MND; Touwen, 1979)

12

16

28

27*

,,

Pediatric examination

12

17

29

29

  1. aAge corrected for prematurity, except at 10 years; Weeks refers to gestational age, months to (corrected) chronological age. *Significant group differences between preterm and term children, p < .05, two-tailed; “Significant group difference between preterm subgroups, p < .05, one-tailed.

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van Baar, A.L., Ultee, K., Gunning, W.B. et al. Developmental Course of Very Preterm Children in Relation to School Outcome. J Dev Phys Disabil 18, 273–293 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10882-006-9016-6

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