ABSTRACT
Reviews of the literature on prematurity and low birth indicate a high relationship between birth weight as an effect of prematurity, and developmental outcome in high risk infants. The question has been raised as to whether there is continuity of developmental risk factors, or whether there is an all or none effect. The answer seems to be that declining birth weight in association with perinatal complications results in handicap, and the greater the number of these factors, the poorer the developmental outcome. Neligan, Kalvin, Scott, & Garside studied a comparative sample of those children that were of early gestation with those that were small for date and concluded that "those who were born too soon were at a meaningful advantage in their later development in comparison with those who were born too small". Recent literature has demonstrated the importance of differentiating children with specific medical complications when discussing the outcome of prematures.
