Dowdney L, Skuse D, Morris K, Pickles A
University of Surrey, Guildford, UK.
J Child Psychol Psychiatry. 1998 Oct;39(7):1017-29.
The aim of this investigation was to follow up a sample of exceptionally short but medically healthy children, and a normal comparison group, previously studied at 4 years of age. They lived in an inner-city area which was, on objective criteria, seriously disadvantaged in socioeconomic terms. When first seen at 4 years, cases were significantly impaired in cognitive abilities relative to comparisons, although firstborns were much less severely affected. Of the original 46 cases, 45 were assessed again at 11 years. Most continued to live in the same geographical area. Case children remained exceptionally short, even when parental stature was taken into account, although a degree of catch-up had occurred. One third had special educational needs, and a similar proportion had been referred for speech therapy. Verbal and nonverbal cognitive skills of both case and comparison children had, on the whole, changed little and group differences persisted. In conclusion, short normal children from socioeconomically disadvantaged backgrounds are at high risk of educational failure at elementary school.
本调查的目的是对一组此前在4岁时接受过研究的异常矮小但身体健康的儿童样本以及一个正常对照组进行随访。他们生活在一个市中心区域，根据客观标准，该区域在社会经济方面处于严重不利地位。4岁初次接受检查时，与对照组相比，这些病例的认知能力显著受损，尽管头胎受影响的程度要轻得多。在最初的46例病例中，45例在11岁时再次接受了评估。大多数人仍居住在同一地理区域。病例儿童即便考虑到父母的身高，仍然异常矮小，不过已经出现了一定程度的追赶生长。三分之一的儿童有特殊教育需求，类似比例的儿童已被转诊接受言语治疗。总体而言，病例组和对照组儿童的语言和非语言认知技能变化不大，组间差异依然存在。总之，来自社会经济弱势背景的身材矮小的正常儿童在小学阶段面临教育失败的高风险。
