A newborn is considered to be full term when it has had a gestation of more than 37 and less than 42 weeks gestation. So by definition, all babies born at less than 37 weeks gestation will be preterm, while those born after 42 weeks will be postterm.
However, regardless of the gestational age of the newborn, if the birth weight is less than 2500 grams, it is considered to be “low birth weight”.
These preterm or low birth weight infants are considered “biohazard” newborns, since they are more likely to have medical complications or disabilities as a result of the maternal, obstetric and/or neonatal circumstances to which they were exposed. And the lower the gestational age and birth weight of the newborn, the higher the risk of complications in the short, medium and long term.
When do symptoms occur?
Symptoms do not always appear immediately, but sometimes take years to appear, as is the case of cognitive, behavioral, psychomotor and perceptual alterations. Unfortunately, it is very common for these types of manifestations to go unnoticed in the usual pediatric clinic, since they are not essential for the child’s survival process and therefore do not receive adequate attention (despite the important impact they can have on the academic, socio-emotional and personal performance of the sufferer).
However, the neuropsychological sequelae of premature and low birth weight children have been extensively studied in our country by several authors. It is known that although the IQ of preterm infants is usually within the normal range, it is usually lower than that of full-term infants, with a decrease of between 7 and 15 points (i.e., they do not develop the full intellectual potential expected). When very low birth weight children (less than 1000 grams) reach school age, they usually do not catch up with their peers and may have difficulties in verbal, visuospatial and phonological processing.
Learning Disorders
Learning disorders are also much more frequent in the preterm population, with a risk of 30% of cases compared to 10-15% in the general school population. It is also estimated that at 6 years of age, between 30-40% of children who were born prematurely present a considerable increase in language, memory and visual-perception disorders, which, added to specific learning disorders, hinder correct academic performance and increase the risk of school failure in these children. And we should not forget that prematurity and low birth weight are also known biological risk factors that increase the risk of developing Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD).
Unfortunately, care and follow-up programs for this population of premature and/or low birth weight children do not usually continue until adolescence, as would be expected. And even in many cases they do not even reach primary school with a complete neuropsychological study that allows to know the profile of skills and cognitive-behavioral difficulties of each particular case, in order to develop a psycho-pedagogical approach adapted to their needs. Therefore, in our environment there is a “fracture” in the specialized care of these children, which together with the widespread ignorance of the problems they suffer, indirectly promote school failure and act to the detriment of the proper socio-emotional development of this population of children and adolescents who were once premature.
For more information on learning disabilities contact a specialist in Child Neurology.