In our country, 28,000 babies are born every year prematurely, which is one in every 13 births. Although the survival rate without major sequelae is increasing, being born prematurely often leads to additional health problems, maturation and learning.
Therefore, more and more families are requesting power school their premature children taking into account the corrected age and not the chronological one.
We have talked to Mar Gonzalo, the mother of two premature twins who have started a campaign on Change.org to publicize the situation of these children, and claim that their conditions are taken into account when they are enrolled.
Born prematurely and also the year before the planned
Kino and Gala turned two last December, but they should have done it next February, because they were born prematurely in 2016.
Their year of birth marks the beginning of their schooling, so in September they will begin school with only two and a half years (their chronological age), but a maturational and inferior congestive development to the rest of his companions, attending to his corrected age.
In Babies and more, should premature children be educated later?His mother believes that this difference in age and maturation lag could affect them in their first years of school:
These twins are just one example of the thousands of premature children in our country who are in the same situation, but a percentage of them can be educated taking into account their corrected age, as some Autonomous Communities have already implemented this measure."It is not only the fact that they were born in December, but they also did it with a deficient pregnancy, because they still had two months to be born. But next September, my children will have to have left the diaper and the intimate environment from his nursery to face a bigger class and a course full of challenges: learn to make strokes, paint, speak in public ... "- Mar explains.
Only five autonomous communities allow delays in early schooling
In 2017, the Ombudsman included in his annual report a recommendation addressed to the Regional Ministry of Education of the autonomous communities, to allow the schooling of premature babies according to their corrected age, and not chronologically.
This same recommendation was also made last year by the Ministry of Education, which suggested making regulations more flexible in the case of premature children, and that families had the power to choose whether or not to delay the enrollment of their children in school.
As explained by the Association of Premature Children (APREM), only in Aragon the right of parents to decide in the case of extreme premature babies (with less than 28 weeks of gestation) is recognized, and other communities are following the same path, such as Balearic Islands, Canary Islands, Castile and León or Murcia. Further, Ceuta and melilla (where education competencies are not transferred) have also implemented this measure.
Kino and Gala were born in Madrid, and for the moment, this community does not consider delaying the schooling of premature babies. But this does not stop Mar, who from the hand of APREM is carrying out all possible initiatives In order to promote the measure at the legislative level in its autonomous community:
"We have asked the Education Counselor to decide to implement the recommendation of the Ministry of Education, and allow parents to choose whether or not we want to enroll our children later. We have also talked with the education inspector of our district, and with early care professionals, but we haven't managed to solve anything "
And is that the only alternative that could take advantage of Mar to delay one year the schooling of their twins, is show that they have special needs, but it is not your case:
"The funny thing is that in the early attention tests that have been done to them their corrected age has been taken into account, but then they will be forced to be schooled according to their chronological age, losing an entire year of nursery school that could be fundamental for its development "- he laments.
In Babies and more Alternative education: what options do you have if you want a different school for your childrenEnroll them in a school sensitized with this reality, which respect the rhythms and needs of premature students, or even schooling them in the last stage of Early Childhood Education, could be other alternatives for Mar. But today he does not contemplate them, and wants to continue fighting for a public education that allows parents to delay the schooling of their premature children.
"These children had enough to finish their gestation in an incubator, and with waiting weeks to be caught in arms or fed by their mothers. The beginning of the life of premature babies is marked by notable difficulties in health, and it is a shame that now that you can start enjoying a wonderful and different stage with the beginning of school, are forced to leave at a disadvantage with respect to their peers "
The premature ones in the school stage
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.
According to experts, premature babies are more likely to suffer from memory and attention problems, behavior, motor coordination or executive functions. In addition, and usually, they are more delayed than other children their age in terms of developmental milestones.
In Babies and more Birth between weeks 34 and 36: main problems facing late premature babiesMar tells us that in the Association of Parents of Premature Children, parents are often desperate for the situation that their children are living in school.
"There are children who have a hard time in school because they have the constant feeling that they" do not arrive ", and that they take longer to learn things than other classmates. This can seriously affect their self-esteem."
In addition, this mother points to if the maturation rhythm of premature students was respected and they would not be forced to start school early, it is likely that many did not need extra resources and support teachers to keep up with the class.
Starting school is a difficult challenge for all children, but especially for large premature babies and premature babies who were born the year before the expected date of delivery.
Therefore, we wanted to echo the proposal of Mar and so many other families that are mobilizing for the same cause. Hopefully all the autonomous communities will join this initiative and parents will be allowed to school their children based on their corrected age.
Photos | iStock
