The Cognitive Development of Children Born Preterm and Affected by Spastic Diplegia

In a prospective study the intellectual development of 20 premature children affected by spastic diplegia was compared with that of 10 preterm low-risk children. The assessment was carried out with the Griffiths scale at the age of 3 years and with the WPPSI scale at the age of 6 years. The analysis of data collected in the 2 psychometric evaluations of the preterm-born diplegic children showed a disharmonic profile of neuropsychological functions, already present at the age of 3 years and confirmed at the age of 6 years. The average scores in diplegic children were poorest in the subscales locomotor, eye-hand coordination, and performance on Griffiths scale, and in the performance subtests of the WPPSI scale. The mean scores of subscales for hearing and speech, and practical reasoning on the Griffiths scale and of the verbal subscale of the WPPSI were near to the lower range of the normal distribution. Significant differences in performance subtests were found between the groups of preterm diplegic children and the group of low-risk preterm children, both at 3 and 6 years of age.