Follow-up of children attending infant language units: outcomes at 11 years of age

A large cohort of 242 children who had been attending infants language unit s at 7 years of age was followed up when the children were in their final y ear of primary school. Two hundred (83%) of the children were reassessed at 11 years of age on a wide battery of language and literacy measures, on a test of non-verbal ability, an autism checklist and a communication checkli st. In total, 89% of children still scored <1 SD from the mean on at least one test of language and the majority (63%) scored poorly on three or more assessments demonstrating widespread difficulties. Compared with non-verbal abilities at 7 years of age, a large proportion of the cohort also perform ed poorly on performance IQ subtests (28%). A further 10 children scored hi ghly on a checklist for autistic spectrum disorder. Thus, only 115 (58%) ch ildren could be said to meet criteria for specific language impairment. A s mall group of 16 children appeared to have entirely resolved their difficul ties. These outcomes and their implications for education and long-term imp act of the disorder are discussed.