Mobility and Attention Capacity in Former Premature Children

Overview

Attention functions have a major impact on children's social and school behavior. They are an important issue for prematurely born children often seen as having learning difficulties and being restless, when it could be an adaptative answer to attention disorders. The aim of this study is to evaluate attention capacity in former premature children aged 6-7 years old with regards to different postures or mobility, for the attention functions of orienting, alerting and executive control. The Attention Network Test using reaction time and accuracy to visual stimuli will be used to evaluate attention functions in each posture and mobility.

Attention functions have a major impact on children's social, school and emotional adjustment. They are one of the most common issues for prematurely born children with implications in academic and social-behavioral functioning. Prematurely born infants are often seen as having excessive mobility or being restless when it could be an adaptative answer to attention disorders leading to learning difficulties. Respecting spontaneous mobility could improve attention performance in vulnerable children. The aim of the study is to evaluate global attention performance of former premature children at the preschool age of 6 to 7 years. This evaluation will be done in three usual postures or mobility, and for the 3 attentional functions of orienting, alerting or executive control. They will be compared within the prematurely born children group and to term born controls of the same age. The Attention Network Test adapted to children by Rueda et al (Neuropsychologia 2004) using reaction time and accuracy to visual stimuli will be used to evaluate attention functions. Presentation of stimuli through virtual video glasses and collection of answers will be done thanks to a specific software.