Do you find your preemies take longer to learn

amother

Aqua

Mon, Jan 16 2017, 9:50 am

Do you find that your preemies take longer to learn then your non preemies?
Ex: takes them longer to grasp the aleph beis or abc, learn shapes, read etc
Then it took your non preemies

amother

Aqua

Mon, Jan 16 2017, 1:07 pm

I was noticing differences in my children and was thinking maybe this was a factor.
I'm not trying to compare my children I was more just wondering.

ectomorph

Mon, Jan 16 2017, 1:15 pm

My 2 year old was a preemie and definitely delayed in speaking. He was fine with motor skills.
He's still a bit behind socially.
I wouldn't worry about it.

amother

cornflower

Mon, Jan 16 2017, 1:27 pm

I was a preemie back in the 80s
I can tell you that things took longer for me to grasp/learn
Does your child get any kind of therapy (to help child 'play catch up'?)
I didnt get any/there wasnt much therapy around back then
Besides back then the school of thought was to 'push a child ahead' in school. I dont know what my mother was thinking but thats what she did. Of course it didnt wotk out well so the next year she repeted me in kindergarten. Now I was in grade level. She always thought that she had 'held me back'...
Looking back I think I would have done much better socially and scholastically had I trully been 'held back' a year/grade level in school.
Yes we all catch up eventually bh...but why so much struggle if it can be avoided
Bh there are so many resorces out there today to help a struggling child. You just have to find the right fit. You are your childs best advocate.
Hatzlacha

cozyblanket

Mon, Jan 16 2017, 1:42 pm

My son was a 30 week preemie. He was speech delayed but recently his language has really improved. He had some PT and speech, but not anymore. I am glad he is the oldest in his class because it will give him the "slack" to be more on level with them. He is obviously smart and clever though... time will tell.

amother

Aqua

Mon, Jan 16 2017, 2:07 pm

Bh they didn't need any therapy socially they are fine. I do see though that my other children that are not preemies grasp things in learning quicker. One preemie eventually caught up scolastically the other is younger we are having him evaluated for learning issues I am assuming he will caught up like my other preemie but now that they recommend this we are doing it but then I was thinking that maybe that is the issue.
My non preemies pick up letters shapes reading much quicker.
It could be they also aren't the best of learners either which is fine each child is different.

rdmom

Mon, Jan 16 2017, 2:09 pm

I had my daughter at 34 weeks.

She is the only one of my kids that needed therapy. She is getting speech and has a SEIT. since she was born at the end of the school year, I am keeping her back a year. I don't want her to constantly struggle to keep up with the class. I would rather she be the oldest and not constantly running to catch up.

amother

cornflower

Mon, Jan 16 2017, 2:13 pm

rdmom wrote:

Good for you!

Children in general today are expected to grow up to quickly.
Some children just need more time.
No reason to 'create problems'

The issue comes more with boys and becoming bar mitzva in the 'wrong' grade....

amother

Oak

Mon, Jan 16 2017, 2:42 pm

Wow interesting. I have 30 weeker twins I assumed they would be slower with milestones (crawling, walking, talking) but didn't know it can affect them so far beyond that.
They're only 3 months old so I guess time will tell.

amother

Lawngreen

Mon, Jan 16 2017, 4:27 pm

I have a preemie son who was born at 33 weeks. He reached milestones a little late ( dr was never concerned) but always had amazing fine motor skills! He spoke late and was very quiet when he started Playgroup but he's warmed up and grown up so much he gives us so much joy BH!!
I have a few very close relatives born preemies they are older than my son and were born earlier BH they are on par and higher than their grades.

amother

Olive

Mon, Jan 16 2017, 6:35 pm

my 29 weeker never had any issues with milestones learning concepts or skills. because of her birthday/the cutoff she ended up being among the youngest in the grade, and at 5 years old is doing beautifully. not necessarily ahead of her class, but definitely not behind.

amother

Blush

Tue, Jan 17 2017, 10:06 am

Interesting. My preemie was delayed in motor skills (and still is at age 4). But she actually spoke very very early, and her language skills have always been somewhat ahead.

So she is both ahead and behind!