It is likely that when you read the headline you will be many who do not be surprised, and it is that for many years now the topic of the little ones in the class has a tail, because it is not the first time that it is studied. Almost seven years ago, for example, we talked here about a study that concluded that children born at the end of the year have, at least statistically speaking, worse results throughout their schooling, as well as worst jobs in adult life.
A new study wanted to analyze how being always the youngest in class can affect learning and behavior, and it has been seen that these children have twice the risk of being medicated for Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD).
It is not the first study to find this relationship
As we say, many years ago since it is being seen that December children go, year after year, at a disadvantage with respect to their peers, and that that makes them have worse results (especially at the beginning when they are younger). As a result, they are children who can be more "clueless" in class (if they find it difficult to understand or follow the thread, it is normal to disconnect), who can look for other ways to stimulate their curiosity or their desire to have fun and stop paying attention and that, as a consequence, behavioral problems appear. All this leads, as confirmed by other similar studies, to be more likely to be diagnosed with ADHD.
As we read in IFLScience, the study has been published in The Medical Journal of Australia, and to carry it out they have analyzed the results of children diagnosed with ADHD, emphasizing those who turn years before June 30. And it works differently there: the school year begins in January and the cut-off date is set to June 30. Thus, those born on July 1 are always the oldest in the class.
This, in practice, is indifferent, because both here (where the cut is made on December 31) and there, the difference between the oldest and the smallest is the same, up to one year (from January 1 to December 31).
To do the study, the Dr. Martin Whitely, from the University of Curtin, analyzed the birth dates of children diagnosed with ADHD who were taking medication for the disorder. The results he obtained were initially inconclusive, because there are areas of Australia where despite the fact that by age children can go to school, their parents choose to wait another year. However, observing those places where children mostly entered school when they were able to do so by age - in Western Australia 98% of children go to school when they have to enter by age - concluded that those born in June had twice the risk of being medicated for ADHD than those born in July.
That is, if a child was born on June 30, he would have a higher risk of being medicated if he had ADHD than another child born on July 1, the next day, simply because the day 30 will be the smallest its course, and that of day 1 will be the oldest of the following course.
This difference, it seemed, became less obvious. the older the children, probably because the older, the more mature, the less the differences in development and learning capacity that children have because of their age.
Is ADHD overdiagnosed in these children?
Or perhaps ADHD is underdiagnosed in the elderly? Dr. Whitely suggests in this regard that the most probable thing is that the first thing is happening: that the youngest children, for adapting worse from the beginning to school and having a different learning pace from the older ones, tend to be overdiagnosed of ADHD.
As a result of these results, researchers have decided to investigate how these children could be helped to delay their entry to school a little. It is true that there will always be some that will be the smallest, but if for example children enter at age three, it is not the same to have a child of 2 and a half years as the youngest, than a child of three years (if will choose to delay the cut six months).
They also consider it appropriate to analyze which are the possible repercussions of medicating children with ADHD for years; It is something that has been done for a long time and whose long-term effects are not yet clear.
In the meantime, the educational community also has duties in this regard: to watch over those children who by age may have more difficulties so that can realize their full potential, and to prevent parents (and themselves in adulthood) from thinking that they would have done better if they were born a little later.
