Mathematics abilities associated with adaptive functioning in preschool children born preterm

ABSTRACT

It is well known that infants born very preterm (VPT) often demonstrate deficits in mathematical abilities in early childhood which are associated with poorer academic outcomes. Mathematic skills are also critical for other areas of functioning. However, it is not known whether mathematics skills are associated with adaptive functioning in children born preterm. Infants born at ≤31 weeks gestation and full term were recruited at birth and followed over time. At the 36-month corrected age assessment, children were administered the Early Number Concepts subtest of the Differential Abilities Scale, Second Edition, and caregivers completed the Adaptive Behavior Assessment System, Third Edition. After controlling for age, sex, cognitive abilities, and caregiver education, performance on the mathematics measure was uniquely and positively associated with adaptive behavior for preschool children in the VPT group only. Exploratory analyses revealed this association to be specifically related to the Practical and Social composites. Knowledge of concepts of number and quantity were associated with better adaptive functioning, particularly for behaviors related to functioning at home and in the community and play/social functioning, for children born VPT. Although replication is warranted, it would appear that mathematical skills may be an important early intervention target for children born VPT.

KEYWORDS:

• neurodevelopmental outcomes
• premature infants
• math
• arithmetic
• preschool

Acknowledgments

We sincerely thank Jennifer Notestine, RN and Valerie Marburger, NNP for serving as the study coordinators, Josh Goldberg, MD for assisting with recruitment and Mark Smith, MS, for serving as the study MR technologist. We are also grateful to the families and Biobehavioral Core staff that made this study possible.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

¹ It should be noted that including gestational age and biomedical risk factors (i.e., retinopathy of prematurity and bronchopulmonary dysplasia) as additional covariates in the model did not impact the pattern of findings.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke of the National Institutes of Health [grant numbers R01-NS094200 and R01-NS096037]. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.