Every year 15 million premature babies are born in the world, which means 1 in ten births. The survival rate without major sequelae is increasing, but Being born prematurely involves many times, added health problems, maturation and learning.
The debate over whether it would be convenient to school prematurely later has always been on the table. Many parents believe that this measure could benefit their children, and there are already several autonomous communities where it is allowed to do so.
Different criteria according to each autonomous community
Last year, the Ombudsman included in his annual report the possibility that parents who decided could Enroll your premature children in the school year corresponding to their corrected age.
The report included an investigation carried out among the families of large premature babies (those born between 28 and 32 weeks of gestation) of all the autonomous communities, and there were numerous parent complaints about school and learning problems that in most cases these children present with respect to those born at term, especially when, according to their date of birth, they are enrolled one year earlier than they should have been born in their time (for example, the case of a baby born prematurely in December but who should have been born in February of the following year).
Of all the autonomous communities, only Aragon took into account the pecularities that "corrected age" entails when it comes to schooling children born prematurely, and since the academic year 2015/16 offers parents the possibility of delaying the schooling of children born before the 28th week of gestation, and / or with a kilogram or less of weight, or when the birth had occurred in the year prior to the expected one.
This academic year has also joined the schools of Ceuta and Melilla and Extremadura, and the communities of the Balearic Islands, Canary Islands, Castilla y León and Murcia claim to be studying this possibility for the future.
But in this, as in many other issues related to education, it is a shame that things are so different from one autonomous community to another and, above all, that this option is not provided to parents if they wish.
The importance of taking into account "corrected age"
In the first years of school, you can see a big difference between the children born at the beginning of the year and their classmates born at the end. Psychomotor skills, sphincter control or language development are usually clear indicators that mark the differences between students, according to their month of birth.
But if in addition, the child born at the end of the year is premature and therefore is enrolled one year earlier than it would have been for him to have been born at term, the differences can be much more pronounced.The "corrected age" is the reference used by pediatricians and professionals to assess the development and health of the child, and is the one that the child should have been born on the planned date.
A healthy and full-term baby has reached different milestones in its development in each trimester, and although each child sets its own pace, certain events such as holding the head, turning, sitting, crawling, pronouncing the first words or starting to walk, usually occur, more or less, on the same dates.
But when we talk about premature babies we must take into account their corrected age, and see the evolution of the child based on this data, taking into account that, according to experts, premature children are more likely to suffer from memory, attention, behavior, motor coordination or executive functions
Therefore, the majority of premature parents consider it necessary to delay the schooling of their children, so that the possible delay that they may present in their physical, maturational and learning development does not place them in clear disadvantage with respect to the rest of partners, or hinder your school adaptation.
Giving the opportunity to go to school a year later, families would feel more relaxed and confident and the differences so marked that they exist today in the early educational stages between the prematurely born student and the rest of the classmates would be eliminated.
More information
In Babies and More Every year 15 million premature babies are born in the world, Great news: more and more premature extremes get ahead, Would you ask to delay a course the entrance to school if your child were premature ?, The age of premature babies should corrected during the first two years, Premature babies would have to start eating at six months of corrected age
