Children with preschool minor neurodevelopmental disorders. IV: Behaviour and school achievement at age 13

Abstract

A cohort of children with deficits in attention, motor control and perception at seven years, drawn from a total population sample of such children in Göteborg, Sweden, was compared at 13 years with a group of normal children with regard to behaviour and school achievement. The index group showed persisting high rates of severe behavioural problems, as judged by teachers', parents' and self-rating questionnaires. None had been treated with stimulants or other drugs to reduce the symptoms of their neurodevelopmental disorders. It seems that these children's problems were slightly less in the early teen years than they were at 10 years, but the rates were still much in excess of those in the comparison group.