Educational attainments of school leavers with a preschool history of speech-language impairments.

This paper reports a follow-up study of a cohort of 16- and 17-year-olds with a preschool history of speech-language impairment and whom Bishop and Edmundson (1987) originally studied. Information collected by questionnaire showed that the GCSE grades of those whose language impairments had resolved by 5;06 were below those of age-matched controls. However, the number of GCSE examinations entered and passed was significantly more than those of the 'persistent S-LI' and 'general delay' groups. Overall, IQ was the strongest predictor of educational attainment. However, even when IQ was controlled, literacy skills accounted for independent variance in achievement, especially among those with a history of language difficulty. The survey also noted that the majority of students across all groups remained in full-time education; however, the adolescents with a background of S-LI were more likely to follow vocational and employment training courses rather than A-levels.

Is preschool language impairment a risk factor for dyslexia in adolescence?

The literacy skills of 56 school leavers from the Bishop and Edmundson (1987) cohort of preschoolers with specific language impairment (SLI) were assessed at 15 years. The SLI group performed worse on tests of reading, spelling, and reading comprehension than age-matched controls and the literacy outcomes were particularly poor for those with Performance IQ less than 100. The rate of specific reading retardation in the SLI group had increased between the ages of 8 1/2 and 15 years and there had been a substantial drop in reading accuracy, relative to age. However, over 35% had reading skills within the normal range and those who had had isolated impairments of expressive phonology had a particularly good outcome. Our findings highlight the limitations of discrepancy definitions of dyslexia that do not take account of the changing demands of reading over time. We argue that children's phonological difficulties place them at risk of literacy failure at the outset of reading and that later, impairments of other language skills compromise development to adult levels of fluency.

Language-impaired preschoolers: a follow-up into adolescence.

This paper reports a longitudinal follow-up of 71 adolescents with a preschool history of speech-language impairment, originally studied by Bishop and Edmundson (1987). These children had been subdivided at 4 years into those with nonverbal IQ 2 SD below the mean (General Delay group), and those with normal nonverbal intelligence (SLI group). At age 5;6 the SLI group was subdivided into those whose language problems had resolved, and those with persistent SLI. The General Delay group was also followed up. At age 15-16 years, these children were compared with age-matched normal-language controls on a battery of tests of spoken language and literacy skills. Children whose language problems had resolved did not differ from controls on tests of vocabulary and language comprehension skills. However, they performed significantly less well on tests of phonological processing and literacy skill. Children who still had significant language difficulties at 5;6 had significant impairments in all aspects of spoken and written language functioning, as did children classified as having a general delay. These children fell further and further behind their peer group in vocabulary growth over time.

A comparison of phonological skills in children with reading comprehension difficulties and children with decoding difficulties.

This paper examines phonological skills in children with two distinct forms of reading difficulty: comprehension problems and decoding problems. In the first study a group of children with normal decoding skills but poor reading comprehension skills was studied. These children were found to have age-appropriate phonological skills. It is argued that normal phonological skills have enabled them to develop proficient decoding skills. A second study assessed the phonological skills of a group of children with decoding difficulties. These children showed marked deficits on tests of phonological skills. It appears that weak phonological skills underlie these children's decoding difficulties.