Identifying Relationships between Late Premature Birth, Parental Factors, and Early Numerical and Spatial Development

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Project Summary Worldwide more than 1 in 10 babies born are premature (<37 weeks gestation) and the incidence is on the rise. The recent increase in preterm (PT) births is the result of the rise in late preterm (LPT) birth (34 to 36 weeks gestation), which constitute the largest and fastest growing portion of all PT births. Children with LPT are at significant risk to experience mathematical difficulties in school. Mathematical skills are paramount to later life outcomes, including adulthood health and wealth. Math success in school is rooted in numerical and spatial skills that develop during preschool years. However, a significant knowledge gap exists on the origins of LPTs’ math difficulties. The long-term goal for this application is to identify the mechanisms that underlie academic difficulties in PT children. The overall objective for this application is to characterize the development of numerical and spatial skills (NS) among LPTs and to identify the key factors that explain individual differences in NS skills in LPTs and Term children during preschool years. The central hypothesis is that LPTs will exhibit specific difficulties in NS tasks compared to Term children, controlling for general cognitive performance. Further, prematurity and parental factors (parental language NS input) will interact in predicting individual differences in NS skill in LPT and Term children. The rationale that underlies the proposed project is that once NS development in LPTs is better understood, evidence-based early identification and intervention methods can be developed to support at-risk LPTs before math difficulties in school emerge. The central hypothesis will be tested by pursuing two specific aims: 1) Compare the differences in NS skills of LPT and Term children at age 4 to 5 years; and 2) Determine the relation between parental NS language input and NS skills of LPT and Term children at age 4 to 5 years. For the first aim, children’s verbal and nonverbal NS skills will be assessed using experimental and standardized measures. For the second aim, parental language input about NS concepts (e.g., counting, cardinality, spatial terms) during a semi-naturalistic play interaction in the lab will be identified. The research proposed in this application is innovative, in the applicant’s opinion, because it departs from the status quo in research on PTs by focusing on late prematurity and preschool years, combining experimental, standardized, and observational measures, and examining the role of experiential factors that might serve as modifiable risk factors that stakeholders can target. The proposal is significant because it will inform efforts targeting early NS difficulties and thereby maximize LPTs’ future potential. Ultimately, such knowledge has the potential of offering new opportunities for the development of innovative and effective early prevention and interventions that leverage home support to prevent academic difficulties in at-risk children.