Abstract
This longitudinal study examined changes in the efficiency of the attentional system during the transition from preschool to school in children born very prematurely. Seventy-one Polish children participated: 34 born before 32 weeks of gestation (47.1% boys) and 37 full-term peers (48.6% boys). The Attention Network Task—Child Version was administered at ages 5 and 6. At age 5, very preterm children showed reduced efficiency in alerting and orienting compared to full-term children. By age 6, alerting efficiency improved in the preterm group, and no longer differed from the control group. However, group differences in attentional orienting persisted at the follow-up assessment at age 6. These findings suggested partial improvement in attentional functioning in very preterm children during early development, with persistent differences in attentional orienting compared to full-term peers.