Attention capacities of preterm and term born toddlers: A multi-method approach

Objective: Many preterm children show difficulties in attention at (pre)school age. The development of attention capacities of preterm and term toddlers was compared using a longitudinal and multi-method approach at 12, 18 and 24 months. Method: Attention was measured for 123 preterm (32-36 weeks gestation) and 101 term born children, using eye tracking (18 months), observations during mother-child interaction (18 months), and mother-reports (12, 18, and 24 months). Results: Preterm toddlers had lower scores than term children on the eye-tracking measures of orienting and alerting. No group differences were found with observations, mother-reports, and the eye-tracking measure of executive attention. More preterm than term children had suboptimal scores on measures of the alerting system at 18 months, possibly indicating difficulties in attention development. Conclusion: Preterm children showed an increased risk for suboptimal functioning in alerting attention capacities, as early as at a toddler age. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.