29 LEARNING DISORDERS – AN INAPPARENT BUT MAJOR CONSEQUENCE OF HIGH RISK PREGNANCY

The year of birth and home address of each child in regular and in special classes (25,000) during the school years 1977-78 in the Buffalo, N.Y., public and parochial schools was obtained. A computer program placed each address into its proper census tract. The population was divided into quartiles according to average census tract incomes. This permitted matching the number of children in grades 1 - 6 in special classes with the total number of students for each of the four income groups. Birth data were then examined for the years this cohort of children was born. Fifty-three per 1,000 school children were in special classes, with a lower rate for high income and a higher rate for low income. The difference in rate was most marked for mental retardation where the prevalence was twice as high in the low income group as it was in the high income group (32.7 versus 15.8 per 1,000 school children). Racial differences did not appear to be significant. The change in rates for infant mortality, low birthweight infants and teenage pregnancy for this group of children paralleled the subsequent rate for mental retardation. This suggests that a considerable percentage of mental retardation is linked to problems of pregnancy and birth.