The “syndrome of the post-premature child”: a study of its significance -- Part I

Prematurity has the greatest influence upon frequency and degree of mechanical disturbances uncovered by the Test of Imitation of Gestures. The authors look for the significance of this syndrome at various levels:

1. Possible organic damage to the central nervous system structures, through the tonic and motor disturbances checked out by the neurological examination.
2. In the disturbances of the early development of posturomotor abilities.
3. Deviant and delayed development of the cognitive factors (spatial and temporal structuring).
4. Emotional and relationship development.

The investigations were carried out on a sample group of prematurely born children and a control group group of children born at term.

After observing certain behavior disorders which occur among normal children -- mild disorders which become less obvious with age -- the authors show that frequent and gross disturbances which appear in the first months of life and persist beyond the age of 6 years distinguish the premature child. In this same group, however, delays in mental development noted early in life often disappear entirely by the age of 4 years, even among children who were born very prematurely.

The authors then isolated the most typical disturbances found among the premature children, with stress on factors of pathology, maturation, adjustment, and environment.

The authors study the relationship between the disturbances described above and the various aspects of the neurological examinations which enable them to objectify the dynamic factors of the body adjustment to the external world and to other people. The hypothesis that a fundamental relationship exists between disturbances of adjustment and the genesis of the “post-premature child syndrome”, develops from the comparison between the psychological and neurological data in their longitudinal evolution.

Commenting on the relevance of these findings for the care of premature children, the authors stress the value of motor training and remedial education for overcoming the disturbances of spatial structuration and body schema.