Tuesday, May 21 2013 12:03 AM EDT2013-05-21 04:03:02 GMT
Paramedics tell us they're amazed no one was seriously hurt in a rush hour crash just outside Albany Monday evening. The driver of a pickup truck lost control on Philema Road just before 5:00. The truckMore >>
The driver of a pickup truck and his passenger walk away from the mangled wreckage after a crash.More >>
Tuesday, May 21 2013 12:02 AM EDT2013-05-21 04:02:59 GMT
An unusual wreck on Albany's bypass Monday night left the highway littered with yard debris. About 9:30, a car collided with a trailer that was hauling tree limbs on the Liberty Expressway between theMore >>
Wrecked cars and yard debris slow traffic on Albany's bypass.More >>
Monday, May 20 2013 11:45 PM EDT2013-05-21 03:45:07 GMT
Moultrie Police tell us they have the accused triggerman in a shooting in custody after two weeks on the run. Police arrested 19-year-old Darren Huntley over the weekend in Waycross. 22-year-old DominiqueMore >>
Moultrie Police tell us they have the accused triggerman in a shooting in custody after two weeks on the run.More >>
Monday, May 20 2013 11:37 PM EDT2013-05-21 03:37:21 GMT
Students at a South Georgia University are working together to make it into the workforce. Nursing students at Georgia Southwestern asked business students to help them prepare for their job searches. HumanMore >>
Students at a South Georgia University are working together to make it into the workforce.More >>
Monday, May 20 2013 11:28 PM EDT2013-05-21 03:28:47 GMT
A lot of South Georgians are all too familiar with the damage a tornado can do. An EF-3 tornado roared through Americus six years ago. It killed two people and destroyed Sumter Regional Hospital andMore >>
A lot of South Georgians are all too familiar with the damage a tornado can do.More >>
By Erika Edwards, NBC News
A new study suggests elementary school children may do better in math and reading if they were born at at least 39 weeks gestation.
"There was a linear relationship between gestational age and academic achievement in 3rd grade," explains Dr. Kimberly Noble.
Dr. Noble and colleagues at Columbia University compared data on more than 128,000 children in New York City.
All of the kids were considered full term at birth, at least 37 weeks.
Those born at 37 or 38 weeks scored worse on reading and math achievement tests in the 3rd Grade relative to children born at 39, 40 or 41 weeks.
"Although this is a statistically significant difference, it's a small difference. That's about the size of 1.5 IQ points," Dr. Noble says.
This does not mean an earlier birth causes or leads to academic problems, but the study does suggest the brain is growing very rapidly during those last few weeks in the womb.
"One possibility is that there's something about the intra-uterine environment that really supports optimal brain development," says Dr. Noble.
While more study of this association is needed, experts say it's parents who are most influential in a child's academic development, which can be strengthened with a cognitively stimulating and emotionally supportive childhood.
The effect of an earlier birth on math and reading achievement was independent of birth weight and other obstetric, social and economic factors.
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