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Objective: Motor impairments are prevalent in children born at extremely low birth weight (ELBW; < 1,000 g). Rarely studied are subtle motor deficits that indicate dysfunction or delay in neural systems critical for optimal cognitive, academic, and behavioral function. We aimed to examine quantifiable signs of subtle neuromotor dysfunction in an early school-aged ELBW cohort that coincidentally had age-appropriate cognition and design copying. Method: We studied 97 participants born between 1998 and 2001; 74 ELBW (6.7 years ± 0.75) compared with 23 term-born (6.6 years ± 0.29). Neuromotor outcomes were assessed using the Physical and Neurological Examination of Subtle Signs-Revised, and measures of dexterity/coordination and visual-motor integration. Results: ELBW participants performed worse than term-born on design-copying and dexterity, were age-appropriate compared to normative data, and had slower timed movements and more subtle overflow movements. Those ELBW born

Objective: The spatial location memory of preschool-aged children born preterm has rarely been studied primarily due to an absence of developmentally sensitive measures. This study aimed to address this gap in the literature. Method: We administered a modification of the Hopkins Board to 135 children at age 3 who were born extremely low birth weight (ELBW) (n = 20), late-preterm (LPT) (n = 75), or at term (TERM) (n = 40). Five measures were obtained: naming, trials-to-criterion, errors-to-criterion, delayed item recall, and delayed location recall. Results: ANCOVA indicated that the groups differed in naming (p = .019), errors-to-criterion (p = .002), and delayed item recall (p = .025). For these measures, ELBW performed worse than TERM and LPT, but LPT did not differ from TERM. Corrected age and sociodemographic factors did not eliminate the deficit in spatial location learning for ELBW participants. A MANCOVA found a significant difference in learning, with post hoc tests indicating significant learning across trials in the LPT and TERM groups, but not in the ELBW group. Conclusions: ELBW is a significant risk factor for developmental delay or impairment of spatial location learning. These findings suggest that the modified Hopkins Board identifies at-risk premature children. This modification may be more broadly useful to assess preschoolers' neurodevelopmental maturation.