Evaluation of Neurological Status and School Readiness in Preterm Preschoolers

Evaluation of Neurological Status and School Readiness of Preterm Children in Preschool Period

Beginning school is an important milestone for children. Children's readiness for school involves cognitive, physical, and emotional development. While the majority of children born preterm are able to transition from preschool to kindergarten with little difficulty, some children experience challenges during this time. Factors that negatively influence children's success in kindergarten include their age, socioeconomic status, neurological status and their ability to interpret sensory information from their environment.

This study was planned to explain the relationship between the primary school readiness and the neurological status of preterm born children.

A convenience of preterm and term preschoolers recruiting from Gazi University, Faculty of Health Science, Department of Physiotherapy and Rehabilitation. Each group contains 30 children. First, sociodemographic information and histories of children are obtaining. Ages and contact information of the parents are recording. Prenatal and natal risk factors of the mothers are querying. Gestational ages and height, weight, and head circumferences of babies at birth are recording. Number of pregnancies, live births and abortions, type of delivery, multiple pregnancies for mothers as well as consanguinity between parents are asking. Marmara Primary School Readiness Scale is using to evaluate mental-language development, socio-emotional development, physical development, self-care skills,math skills, science skills, voice exercises, line exercises and labyrinths. Sensory profile caregiver questionnaire screen for the senses (sensory processing), adjustment (modulation), behavioral and emotional responses. The Touwen examination (neurological examination) is using to evaluate posture in various positions, muscle tone, dyskinesias, range of motion, reflexes, sensory function and cranial nerve function as well as developmental items, i.e. the items dealing with coordination, fine manipulative abilities and associated movements. All examination wiil be finished in the same day.

Inclusion Criteria:

• No neurological diagnosis
• gestational age < 37 weeks
• 60-78 months of age

Exclusion Criteria:

• Have a neurological diagnosis (such as cerebral palsy)
• Grade III or grade IV intraventricular hemorrhage
• Have undergone major surgery in neonatal period
• Mental retardation