Eye Movements and Attention of Very Low Birthweight Children during Single Word Reading

Children born with very low birth weight (VLBW <1500 g) have a high risk of reading difficulties. Previous research has suggested that poor reading skills in VLBW children are associated with attention problems. In the current study, we examined the eye movements in VLBW children during reading and investigated their relationship with attention. The study protocol included a reading test to measure fluency and accuracy, and an attention test to measure selective attention. This test was administered to 33 VLBW children and 32 normal birth weight (NBW) children in the second or third grade of elementary school. We examined eye movements, including fixation frequencies and duration, while reading short (four letters), long (seven to ten letters), and non-words. Frequency of fixation for VLBW children was significantly different from that found for NBW children. Children had significantly more frequent fixation on long words compared to short words and non-words, and more frequent fixations on non-words compared to short words. VLBW children showed a marginally shorter fixation duration than did the NBW children during the non-word reading, but there was no significant difference between groups for long words and short words. There were significant correlations between fixation frequency per word and scores on attention task. The results indicated that the eye movement patterns of VLBW children corresponded to those of children with co-occurring reading and attention problems.