A RAISIN is helping predict how well toddlers will perform at school.

Researchers at the University of Brighton have worked with other experts to develop a simple test using the dried fruit.

According to their findings, this can help forecast how well a child will perform academically at age eight.

Using just the piece of fruit and a plastic cup, the test is based on how long a 20-month-old child can wait to pick up a raisin in front of them.

The toddlers were given a raisin that was placed under a cup within easy reach.

After three training runs, toddlers were asked to wait until they were told (60 seconds) they could touch and eat the raisin.

During the study it was found that those who were born very prematurely were more likely to take the raisin before the allotted time.

In a follow-on study the academics found that those who could not inhibit their behaviour as toddlers were not performing as well in school as their full-term peers seven years later.

Suna Eryigit-Madzwamuse, research fellow in the university's college of life, health and physical sciences, co-authored the study.

She said: “We knew the adverse impact of preterm birth on attention and academic success from our past research. This study sheds light on its underlying mechanism.

“This provides crucial knowledge for designing early education strategies that will build preterm-born children’s resilience which in turn will promote their development and achievement at school.”

The study’s senior author, Dieter Wolke from the University of Warwick, added: “An easy, five-minute raisin game task represents a promising new tool for follow-up assessments to predict attention regulation and learning in preterm and term born children.

“The results also point to potential innovative avenues to early intervention after preterm birth.”

During the study, 558 children born at 25 to 41 weeks gestation were assessed for self-control once they were 20 months old.

The results of those born preterm between 25 and 38 weeks were compared to those born a healthy full term between 39 to 41weeks.

Around age eight, the same children were evaluated by a team of psychologists and paediatricians.

The findings concluded that the lower the gestational age, the lower a toddler's inhibitory control – and the more likely those children would have poor attention skills and low academic achievement at eight-years-old.