O'Connor considers what practitioners need to know in order to provide
quality support to children and families.
There is a growing body of research that suggests that children born pre-term are more likely to have some developmental delays and difficulties than children born full-term. Although worrying, this growing insight means that there is a greater understanding developing of why children may have specific needs - and of improved ways of helping them.
First of all, though, it is important to remember that being born prematurely is not a life sentence - it does not come with a fixed set of symptoms or outcomes. It would be wrong to alarm parents and to label pre-term children as automatically having physical, emotional or learning difficulties. But as reflective practitioners, it is our responsibility to see the individual child and to consider their needs in the context of all their experiences, so that we can best respond to them.
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