title: Attention in 3-Year-Old Children with VLBW and Relationships with Early School Outcomes.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To compare attention skills of children with a very low birth weight (VLBW) with children with a normal birth weight (NBW) when entering primary school, and explore the association of attention skills with school career 2 years later.
  
  
  METHODS
  Participants were 151 children with VLBW and 41 with NBW. Attention was assessed at 3 years and 8 months of corrected age (CA) and school career at 5½ years of CA. Children performed two tests, parents completed three questionnaires, and an assessor systematically observed children's attention.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Children with VLBW had significantly lower mean scores on five of the six measures. Significantly more children with VLBW had scores in the clinical range on the Child Behavior Checklist completed by the parents (13% versus 0%) and scores representing dysfunction on assessor observations (19% versus 2%). At 5½ years of age, 36% of the children with VLBW followed special education or had grade retention. Dysfunctional attention as observed by the assessor was most strongly associated with need for learning support at 5½ years of age.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  At preschool age, children with VLBW have attention difficulties. Attentive behavior at preschool age is a predictor of school career 2 years later.
authors.affiliation: a Department of Rehabilitation, Academic Medical Center , University of Amsterdam , Amsterdam , the Netherlands.
authors.forename: Gijs
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Verkerk
authors.affiliation: a Department of Rehabilitation, Academic Medical Center , University of Amsterdam , Amsterdam , the Netherlands.
authors.forename: Martine
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Jeukens-Visser
authors.affiliation: b Emma Children's Hospital, Academic Medical Center , University of Amsterdam , Amsterdam , the Netherlands.
authors.forename: Bregje
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Houtzager
authors.affiliation: c Department of Neonatology, Academic Medical Center , University of Amsterdam , Amsterdam , the Netherlands.
authors.forename: Aleid van
authors.initials: Av
authors.lastname: Wassenaer-Leemhuis
authors.affiliation: a Department of Rehabilitation, Academic Medical Center , University of Amsterdam , Amsterdam , the Netherlands.
authors.forename: Karen
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Koldewijn
authors.affiliation: a Department of Rehabilitation, Academic Medical Center , University of Amsterdam , Amsterdam , the Netherlands.
authors.forename: Frans
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Nollet
authors.affiliation: c Department of Neonatology, Academic Medical Center , University of Amsterdam , Amsterdam , the Netherlands.
authors.forename: Joke
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kok
mesh_terms: D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002675:Child, Preschool; D002658:Developmental Disabilities / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D018479:Early Intervention, Educational / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D019102:Infant, Very Low Birth Weight; D008297:Male; D008991:Monitoring, Physiologic / Q000379:methods; D012016:Reference Values; D018570:Risk Assessment; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D013647:Task Performance and Analysis
keywords: Attention; behavior; children born preterm; educational provision; preterm infant; very low birth weight