Extra Learning Help for Preemies

Children born prematurely may need additional help in the classroom.

More than half of children born severely prematurely require additional educational help, especially with mathematics, according to research published in the Fetal and Neonatal Edition of Archives of Disease in Childhood.

The study included 11-year-olds in the U.K. born before twenty six weeks of pregnancy. One in three had difficulty reading, and almost half (44 percent) had trouble with mathematics. Two thirds of the children required academic and behavioral special educational help, compared to 24 percent of schoolchildren across England.

The authors explain that because their birth date is earlier than expected, most children born prematurely start school an academic year earlier. Even though the academic performance of these children was the same as for those who started school at the regular time, they required even higher levels of special support.

Read more about the study results.