Premature babies need extra help at school

Babies are considered to be extremely premature if they are born at less than 26 weeks gestation.

The results come from the EPICure study, an ongoing research project established in 1995 to determine the chances of survival and health of babies born extremely prematurely. It found that out of 190 children who attended mainstream school, 57 per cent had Special Educational Needs and 55 per cent required SEN resource provision.

The study also found that compared with children carried to full term, extremely premature children scored significantly lower on IQ tests and core subjects, with one in three finding reading difficult and almost half struggling with mathematics.

Researchers from the University of Nottingham, who are leading the study funded by the Medical Research Council, also looked at the progress of children who entered education a year earlier than if they had been born when expected. They found an increase in special needs compared with the rest of the cohort, and recommend that 'schools adopt admission rules based on corrected age to reduce the amount of SEN provision needed'.

Sir Jim Rose's recommendation in the Primary Review last year recommended that premature children start school a year later (News, 10 December 2008).

The latest research was done in collaboration with the University of Warwick and published in the Archives of Disease in Childhood Fetal and Neonatal Edition last week. Results from the EPICure-2 study are to be published later this year.

- Further information: http://press.psprings.co.uk/fnn/february/fn152793.pdf