My daughter is a former 25 weeker. She was monitored closely until 2. We were told there was only a 20 percent chance that she would not be special needs. Amazingly, at the age of 5, it appear that she has escaped her prematurity unscathed with no special needs.
I have a son who came at 30 weeks, he has Down syndrome. We were aware of it beforehand. Currently still in the NICU, 3 weeks old without many complications just needs to grow and learn to feed.
My son was born at 29 weeks. He will be 2 next month and has no delays or issues that we know of. He will have his autism screener in May, but there are no signs he has anything on the spectrum.
Re: Special Needs and Preemies.
DD1: November 2011
DD2: December 2013