The setting up and preliminary findings of the Developmental Language Programme have been described in a previous article (1 974). This article presents the findings after five years, from 50 children in the language class setting; and 69 children in the parent programme (language "clinic") under the direction of a speech therapist. In addition to The Wolfson Centre groups, the findings are reported on field trials carried out in local authority class and clinic settings. The large majority of the "programme" children made accelerated progress in all language-related areas of development. Group comparisons showed that all groups, including the jkld trials, using the Developmental Language Programme made better progress than (a) children of similar age and handicap having no special help, and (b) those having conventional weekly speech therapy. Practical implications are discussed, including the deployment of speech therapy services.

Summary This paper reports the setting up, and first year's trial of two intervention programmes for preschool children who present with delayed language development. Both programmes are based on the same theoretical model, with the focus on the intellectual aspects of language.*** (a) In the Language Clinic programme parents and child are seen every six weeks by a speech therapist for ongoing advice on how to help the child's language development in daily living at home, (b) In the Language Classes the children attend for half days every day, under the direction of a qualified teacher. The programmes and assessment procedures are described, and tentative findings after a year's trial are reported. The large majority of the children in both programmes made accelerated progress in receptive and expressive aspects of language development.