ndex, perceptual-performance, quantitative, memory, and motor scales test all favor the full term preschoolers. There was no difference between the two groups in the measure of self-direction, playfulness, impulsivity, task persistence, and speech articulation (Perceptual and Motor Skills, v.58 p 559). The researchers had the parents’ report on personal-social development, and there was no significant difference between the two groups. There was a large difference between pre and full term groups on the visual-perceptual tests, particularly having to do with drawing ability on the Draw-a-Design test. Kaufman and Kaufman propose that this is because premature children have less visual-motor coordination than full term children. The theory that premature children have impaired visual-motor coordination is consistent with the high amount of cases of cerbral palsy and associated motor impairments that are found among premature children. This all suggests that premature children will have more problems with arithmetic than reading when they get to school age (Perceptual and Motor Skills, v.58 p 560). A study was done in Israel by Rachel Levy-Shift and Gili Einat that measured the emotional and behavioral development of prematurely born children. They found that premature children had higher levels of anxiety, depression, and aggression than full term children, and that they had a lower self-concept. Premature children were found to have more disturbances at home and at school. One cause of this may be the mother-child relationship, and how stable it is. When the mother and child had a better relationship, the child showed fewer behavioral disturbances than when the mother/child relationship was bad (Journal of Clinical Child Psychology, v.23 p 328-9). Typically, the more negative the environment, the less well-adjusted the premature child was. Another factor in their emotional development is the income of the family. In hi...
