Mathematics difficulties in extremely preterm children: evidence of a specific deficit in basic mathematics processing

作者：Simms Victoria; Gilmore Camilla; Cragg Lucy; Marlow Neil; Wolke Dieter; Johnson Samantha^*

来源：Pediatric Research, 2013, 73(2): 236-244.

DOI：10.1038/pr.2012.157

BACKGROUND: Extremely preterm (EP, %26lt; 26 wk gestation) children have been observed to have poor academic achievement in comparison to their term-born peers, especially in mathematics. This study investigated potential underlying causes of this difficulty. %26lt;br%26gt;METHODS: A total of 219 EP participants were compared with 153 term-born control children at 11 y of age. All children were assessed by a psychologist on a battery of standardized cognitive tests and a number estimation test assessing children%26apos;s numerical representations. %26lt;br%26gt;RESULTS: EP children underperformed in all tests in comparison with the term controls (the majority of Ps %26lt; 0.001). Different underlying relationships between performance on the number estimation test and mathematical achievement were found in EP as compared with control children. That is, even after controlling for cognitive ability, a relationship between number representations and mathematical performance persisted for EP children only (EP: r = 0.346, n = 186, P %26lt; 0.001; control: r = 0.095, n = 146, P = 0.256). %26lt;br%26gt;CONCLUSION: Interventions for EP children may target improving children%26apos;s numerical representations in order to subsequently remediate their mathematical skills.

• 出版日期2013-2