Kristie McNealy, MD

Later this year, our preemie will be turning 5, which means that she’ll be starting school very soon.  As that date approaches, I find myself contemplating the research and anecdotes I’ve encountered over the past 4 years related to learning problems in school-aged preemies.

Last month, I wrote an article over at Family Health Guide about a Scottish study which examined the special educational needs of over 400,000 school-aged kids, based on their gestational age at birth.  The focus of my article over at FHG was the increase need for special educational resources in kids born just slightly before their due date, and the problem this presents for elective c-sections and inductions.  The thing that weighed heavily on my mind when I was done writing, however, was the huge increase in risk for special educational needs in babies born at C’s gestational age.

According to the study, babies born between 28 and 32 weeks gestation (C was born at 31) are more than twice as likely to need special educational resources than kids born at 40 weeks.  So much for “catching up by age two.”

Obviously, I know in my head that even “twice as likely” doesn’t mean that our daughter will face problems in school.  It does mean that a significant number of the preemies I know will have long term problems stemming from their early birth though.  Only time will tell which ones it will be.

So, moms and dads out there, did your preemie do well developmentally until they started school?  Did any problems they faced when they hit school-age surprise you, or had you been prepared for that possibility?

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