A longitudinal study of reading skills among very-low-birthweight children: is there a catch-up?
OBJECTIVE
To examine the development of reading skills among very-low-birthweight (VLBW) children and to what extent reading difficulties at 9 years of age persist unchanged, are attenuated, or are enhanced at 15 years of age.


METHODS
Fifty-six VLBW and 52 normal birthweight (NBW) children were assessed on word decoding, word recognition, and reading comprehension at 9 and 15 years of age.


RESULTS
VLBW children showed deficits in reading skill at 9 years of age, while most differences obtained at 15 years of age did not reach significance. VLBW children improved their reading comprehension between 9 and 15 years of age more than NBW children, and when controlling for individual differences in IQ, VLBW children improved both their reading comprehension and word-recognition skill.


CONCLUSIONS
The results suggest that VLBW children display positive changes over time in reading skills.
Samuelsson
Stefan
S
Department of Behavioral Sciences, Linköping University, S-581 83 Linköping, Sweden. stesa@ibv.liu.se
Finnström
Orvar
O
Flodmark
Olof
O
Gäddlin
Per-Olof
PO
Leijon
Ingemar
I
Wadsby
Marie
M
D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology; D004410:Dyslexia / Q000453:epidemiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007234:Infant, Premature; D019102:Infant, Very Low Birth Weight; D008297:Male; D014888:Wechsler Scales