Reading and math abilities of Finnish school beginners born very preterm or with very low birth weight

: Outi Alanko, Pekka Niemi, Petriina Munck, Jaakko Matomäki, Tiina Turunen, Jari-Erik Nurmi, Liisa Lehtonen, Leena Haataja, Päivi Rautava; the PIPARI Study Group

Publisher: ELSEVIER SCIENCE BV

: 2017

: Learning and Individual Differences

: LEARNING AND INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES

: LEARN INDIVID DIFFER

: 54

: 173

: 183

: 11

: 1041-6080

: 1873-3425

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lindif.2017.01.022(external)

Reading and math skills of preterm born (birth weight 1500 g or gestational age:532 weeks) children and full term (FT) children were compared during the first weeks of grade 1. The participants were 194 preterm born and 175 FT children born between 2001 and 2006.There were more precocious readers among FT than among preterm students, but even the latter performed close to the national norm. FT and preterm group differences among non-readers were minor with only rapid naming showing a robust difference. Math performance showed a stable difference in favor of FT students and the difference was sustained in the full-scale IQcontrol. Major brain pathology increased the likelihood of poor scholastic skills, but lower birth weight relative to gestational age did not. Somewhat surprisingly, maternal education was not associated with school readiness skills. (C) 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.