title: A simple screen performed at school entry can predict academic under-achievement at age seven in children born very preterm.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  We aimed to compare the academic outcomes of a cohort of children born very preterm (VPT, <32 weeks of gestation) and children born at term at age 7 years and assess the ability of a pre-academic skill screen at age five to predict later academic impairment in children born VPT at age seven.
  
  
  METHODS
  One hundred ninety-four children born VPT (born with either gestational age <30 weeks or birthweight <1250 g) and 70 controls born at term from a prospective birth cohort were compared on academic outcomes (Wide Range Achievement Test, WRAT4) at age seven using regression analyses. Receiver-operating characteristic curves were used to determine whether pre-academic skills (Kaufman Survey of Early Academic and Language Skills, K-SEALS) at age five predicted academic impairment at age seven in 174 of the VPT cohort.
  
  
  RESULTS
  At the age of 7 years, children born VPT had lower mean word reading (-9.7, 95% CI: -14.7 to -4.6), spelling (-8.3, 95% CI: -13.3 to -3.3) and math computation (-10.9, 95% CI: -15.3 to -6.5) scores (all P-values ≤0.001) compared with controls born at term, even after adjusting for social risk and time since school commencement. In terms of pre-academic screening, the Numbers, Letters and Words subtest of the K-SEALS had adequate sensitivity and specificity (70-80%) for predicting children with academic impairment at age seven.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Children born VPT underperformed in academic outcomes at age seven compared with controls born at term. A pre-academic screening tool used at school entry can predict children born VPT at risk of academic impairment at age seven who could benefit from targeted early intervention.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Community Child Health, Royal Children's Hospital, Melbourne, Australia.
authors.forename: Rebecca
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Taylor
authors.affiliation: Centre for Community Child Health, Royal Children's Hospital, Melbourne, Australia.|Department of Paediatrics, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia.
authors.forename: Leona
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Pascoe
authors.affiliation: Centre for Community Child Health, Royal Children's Hospital, Melbourne, Australia.|Department of Paediatrics, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia.
authors.forename: Shannon
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Scratch
authors.affiliation: Clinical Sciences, Murdoch Childrens Research Institute, Melbourne, Australia.|Newborn Research, The Royal Women's Hospital, Melbourne, Australia.|Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
authors.forename: Lex W
authors.initials: LW
authors.lastname: Doyle
authors.affiliation: Department of Paediatrics, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia.|Clinical Sciences, Murdoch Childrens Research Institute, Melbourne, Australia.
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Anderson
authors.affiliation: Centre for Community Child Health, Royal Children's Hospital, Melbourne, Australia.|Department of Paediatrics, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia.|Clinical Sciences, Murdoch Childrens Research Institute, Melbourne, Australia.
authors.forename: Gehan
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Roberts
mesh_terms: D000124:Achievement; D001077:Aptitude Tests / Q000592:standards*; D002648:Child; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005260:Female; D005544:Forecasting; D005865:Gestational Age; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D047928:Premature Birth; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012574:Schools; D013334:Students
keywords: academic outcomes; learning disorders; premature; sensitivity and specificity; very low birthweight