Desempenho de escolares com transtorno do déficit de atenção com hiperatividade em habilidades metalinguísticas, leitura e compreensão leitora

School and language performance in children born with low birth weight

OBJECTIVES

To identify the impact of birth weight on the development of metalinguistic skills and performance in reading, writing, and arithmetic in students aged 6 to 10 years, enrolled from the 1st to the 4th grade of Elementary School in public schools of the metropolitan region of São Paulo.

METHODS

The concurrent cohort included 315 students. Birth weight was the exposure variable, and the outcomes were performance in receptive and expressive language, oral metalinguistic skills, and performance in writing, arithmetic, and reading. The tools employed were the Test of Language Competence (TLC) and the School Performance Test (SPT). Students were grouped into quartiles by birth weight for data analysis (P1: < 2170 g, P2: from 2171 g to 2450 g, P3: from 2451 g to 3150 g, and P4: > 3150 g).

RESULTS

The authors observed a tendency for the lower performance of the two groups with lower birth weights in listening comprehension and oral expression. The lower-weight group tended to perform poorly compared to the other groups vis-à-vis reading. In the global result of the SPT, worse performance was observed in the students in the first quartile compared to the others (p = 0.019). The multivariate analysis revealed no association between birth weight and results in the tests applied after adjusting for maternal schooling.

CONCLUSIONS

Birth weight can interfere with oral and written language development. However, the determination of these processes occurs in the face of complex interaction that includes sociodemographic factors, especially family support and maternal schooling.

Ordenação temporal e competência leitora de palavras e pseudopalavras: estudo preliminar

RESUMO Objetivo Analisar a associação entre habilidades de ordenação temporal simples e complexas e tarefas de competência leitora em escolares. Método Etapa piloto de estudo transversal com amostra não probabilística, realizada com 22 escolares, na faixa etária de oito a dez anos. Foram utilizados os instrumentos de avaliação da competência leitora e de avaliação das habilidades auditivas de ordenação temporal simples e complexa. Resultados As habilidades auditivas de ordenação temporal simples, assim como os resultados do teste de competência leitora, apresentaram resultado normal na maioria dos participantes. As habilidades de ordenação temporal complexa, por sua vez, apresentaram resultado inadequado na maioria dos escolares. A associação da competência leitora com o processamento temporal não demonstrou significância estatística. Conclusão O estudo demonstrou a importância da realização de estudos mais robustos e a viabilidade de coleta de dados no cenário escolar.