Younger Kids Have Harder Time in Classroom, Study Finds - East Idaho News

Younger Kids Have Harder Time in Classroom, Study Finds

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Getty 111912 BoyClassroom?  SQUARESPACE CACHEVERSION=1353357445764Stockbyte/Thinkstock(NEW YORK) – MedPage reports that a new study shows that the younger your child is in the classroom, the more difficult it may be for them to focus on schoolwork and learn how to behave properly.

According to study author Helga Zoëga along with colleagues from the Mount Sinai School of Medicine, they analyzed data from the Icelandic school system and discovered that elementary school students in the bottom third of their fourth-grade class for age were almost twice as likely to score low on math and language arts standardized tests.

The study, which is published in the December issue of the medical journal Pediatrics, also found that the same group are 50 percent more likely to be prescribed stimulants for attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) by seventh grade than the oldest kids in their class.

However, the group noticed that this pattern continued in the children until the age of 14. “This should be taken into account when evaluating children’s performance and behavior in school to prevent unnecessary stimulant treatment,” Zoëga and her team noted in their article.

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