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Study into premature birth and difficulty with maths
Released 22/02/2012
Around 160 schoolchildren from London and Leicestershire are taking part in a pioneering study, funded by Action Medical Research, to try to understand the links between being born very prematurely and struggling with mathematics
The PRISM study will investigate why children who are born premature often have difficulty with maths
Each year over 10,000 babies in the UK are born very prematurely (more than eight weeks early) and many of these children go on to develop learning difficulties, in particular problems with maths.
The Premature Infants’ Skills in Mathematics Study, also called the PRISM Study will investigate the nature and causes of premature children’s difficulties with maths with the longer term aim of finding ways to boost their performance.
The difficulties experienced by very premature children in later life are specific to maths in particular, and cannot be accounted for simply by a lower IQ for example.
Project leader, Dr Samantha Johnson from the University of Leicester, said: “We are carrying out this important study to help us understand what aspects of maths premature children find particularly difficult and what the underlying causes might be. Our work could eventually mean parents and teachers have better information about each child’s particular needs and what sort of special educational support might suit them best.”
“Longer term, we hope to use the knowledge we gain to find ways to improve the children’s skills in maths. This is likely to have knock-on effects in other subjects,” she added.
Half of the children involved in this new project were born more than eight weeks early and they are each being assessed by a psychologist along with a classmate who was born at full term. The children are all aged between eight and ten.
Children’s charity, Action Medical Research, has funded the PRISM study with a grant of £159,464 over two years, as part of its drive to fund vital research to help babies and children.
The researchers are assessing the children’s level of attainment in maths to clarify exactly what sort of problems they may have. They will do this by identifying strengths and specific areas of weakness; their understanding of numbers and of strategies used when adding and dividing, for example, and identifying differences in the children’s general abilities, such as attention and memory skills, which could underlie maths disabilities.