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The Relation between Visual Motor Integration and Cognitive Development in Full Term versus Preterm Infants

Background: Preterm children present more often than children born at term with neurological problems that include severe neurological handicaps, such as cerebral palsy or severe mental retardation, or more subtle cognitive impairments. Purpose of the study: To investigate the relation between visual motor integration and cognitive development in full term versus preterm infants. Subjects: One hundred and twenty infants (full term & preterm infants) from both sexes, their ages ranged from 6 to 24 months. They were selected from Saray El-kobba Medical Center & Sawa Academy Nursery in Cairo (Ain shams area). Methods: Children were divided into 2 groups of equal number, Group A: Included sixty full term infants and Group B: Included sixty preterm infants (low risk preterm). Within the 2 groups children were subdivided into 3 subgroups according to their chronological age for full term and corrected age for preterm. The participants of both groups were assessed by the following tools to assess their visual motor integration and cognition by The Peabody Developmental Motor Scales–Second Edition (PDMS-2) and the Portage Guide to early childhood education: (Arabic version) respectively. Results: The results revealed that there was a strong positive correlation between PDMS-2 and Portage scale in full term sub groups (6-12months), (12-18 months) and (18-24 months) scores [( r= 0.48, p=0.03), (r=0.84, p=0.0001) and (r=0.75, p=0.0001) respectively]. There was strong positive correlation between PDMS-2 and Portage scale in preterm subgroups (6-12 months), (12-18 months) and (18-24 months) scores [(r=0.84, p=0.0001) – (r=0.63, p=0,003) –(r=0.88, p=0.0001) respectively]. Conclusion: Based on this study, it could be concluded that there is a relation between visual motor integration and cognitive development in full term versus preterm infants.