Dataset Information

Predicting text reading skills at age 8 years in children born preterm and at term.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Children born preterm are at risk for developing reading difficulties and for decrements in other cognitive skills compared to children born at term.

Aims

To assess how domains of function, often negatively impacted by preterm birth, predict reading development in children born preterm and at term.

Study design

Longitudinal descriptive cohort study.

Subjects

Preterm (n = 48; gestational age 22-32 weeks, 30 males) and term (n = 41, 18 males) participants were assessed at age 6 years on a battery of verbal and non-verbal cognitive skills and reassessed at age 8 using the Gray Oral Reading Tests-5. Linear regressions assessed the contributions of phonological awareness, language, executive function, and non-verbal IQ at age 6 to reading outcome at age 8.

Results

Children born preterm had lower scores than children born at term on all measures (Cohen's d from 0.46 to 1.08, all p < .05). Phonological awareness and language abilities predicted reading in both groups (accounting for 19.9% and 25.0% of variance, respectively, p < .001). Birth group did not moderate the association. By contrast, the association between executive function and non-verbal intelligence and reading outcome was moderated by birth group (interaction accounted for 3.9-6.7% of variance, respectively, p < .05). Positive predictions to reading from executive function and non-verbal IQ were found only in children born preterm.

Conclusions

Non-verbal cognitive skills improved the prediction of reading outcome only in the preterm group, suggesting that reading decrements represent a component of global deficits. These findings have implications for evaluation of children born preterm at school entry and treatment of reading difficulties.

SUBMITTER: Borchers LR

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6402954 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Publications

Predicting text reading skills at age 8 years in children born preterm and at term.

Borchers Lauren R LR Bruckert Lisa L Travis Katherine E KE Dodson Cory K CK Loe Irene M IM Marchman Virginia A VA Feldman Heidi M HM

Early human development 20190129

<h4>Background</h4>Children born preterm are at risk for developing reading difficulties and for decrements in other cognitive skills compared to children born at term.<h4>Aims</h4>To assess how domains of function, often negatively impacted by preterm birth, predict reading development in children born preterm and at term.<h4>Study design</h4>Longitudinal descriptive cohort study.<h4>Subjects</h4>Preterm (n = 48; gestational age 22-32 weeks, 30 males) and term (n = 41, 18 males) participants we ...[more]

PMID: 30708270

Similar Datasets

Project description:AimTo assess associations between white matter properties and pre-reading skills (phonological awareness and receptive and expressive language) in children born preterm and at term at the onset of reading acquisition.MethodSix-year-old children born preterm (n=36; gestational age 22-32wks) and at term (n=43) underwent diffusion magnetic resonance imaging and behavioural assessments. Tracts were selected a priori based on findings from a study of 6-year-old children born at term: the left-hemisphere arcuate fasciculus and superior longitudinal fasciculus, and right-hemisphere uncinate fasciculus. Using linear regression, we assessed associations between fractional anisotropy of tracts and phonological awareness and receptive and expressive language scores. We investigated whether associations were moderated by prematurity.ResultsFractional anisotropy of the left-hemisphere arcuate fasciculus contributed unique variance to phonological awareness across birth groups. The association between fractional anisotropy of the right-hemisphere uncinate fasciculus and receptive and expressive language was significantly moderated by prematurity.InterpretationA left-hemisphere tract was associated with phonological awareness in both birth groups. A right-hemisphere tract was associated with language only in the term group, suggesting that expressive and receptive language is mediated by different white matter pathways in 6-year-old children born preterm. These findings provide novel insights into similarities and differences of the neurobiology of pre-reading skills between children born preterm and at term at reading onset.What this paper addsWhite matter properties and pre-reading abilities were associated in children born preterm at the onset of reading. The neurobiology of phonological awareness was similar in children born preterm versus children born at term at 6 years. The neurobiology of language was different in children born preterm versus children born at term at 6 years.

Project description:Children born preterm (PT) are at risk for white matter injuries based on complications of prematurity. They learn to read but on average perform below peers born full term (FT). Studies have yet to establish whether properties of white matter pathways at the onset of learning to read are associated with individual variation later in reading development in PT children. Here, we asked whether fractional anisotropy (FA) at age 6 years is associated with reading outcome at age 8 years in PT children in the same pathways as previously demonstrated in a sample of FT children. PT (n = 34, mean gestational age = 29.5 weeks) and FT children (n = 37) completed diffusion MRI and standardized measures of non-verbal IQ, language, and phonological awareness at age 6 years. Reading skills were assessed at age 8 years. Mean tract-FA was extracted from pathways that predicted reading outcome in children born FT: left arcuate fasciculus (Arc), bilateral superior longitudinal fasciculus (SLF), and left inferior cerebellar peduncle (ICP). We explored associations in additional pathways in the PT children: bilateral inferior fronto-occipital fasciculus, inferior longitudinal fasciculus, and uncinate fasciculus. Linear regression models examined whether the prediction of reading outcome at age 8 years based on mean tract-FA at age 6 years was moderated by birth group. Children born PT and FT did not differ significantly in tract-FA at age 6 years or in reading at age 8 years. Sex, socioeconomic status, and non-verbal IQ at age 6 years were associated with reading outcome and were included as covariates in all models. Birth group status significantly moderated associations between reading outcome and mean tract-FA only in the left Arc, right SLF, and left ICP, before and after consideration of pre-literacy skills. Microstructural properties of these cerebral and cerebellar pathways predicted later reading outcome in FT but not in PT children. Children born PT may rely on alternative pathways to achieve fluent reading. These findings have implications for plasticity of neural organization after early white matter injury.

Dataset Information

Predicting text reading skills at age 8 years in children born preterm and at term.

Background

Aims

Study design

Subjects

Results

Conclusions

Publications

Predicting text reading skills at age 8 years in children born preterm and at term.

Similar Datasets

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Dataset Information

Predicting text reading skills at age 8 years in children born preterm and at term.

Background

Aims

Study design

Subjects

Results

Conclusions

Publications

Predicting text reading skills at age 8 years in children born preterm and at term.

Similar Datasets

OmicsDI is part of the ELIXIR infrastructure

Tweets

Predicting text reading skills at age 8 years in children born preterm and at term.

Predicting text reading skills at age 8 years in children born preterm and at term.