A 28-Year Follow-Up of Adults With a History of Moderate Phonological Disorder

Abstract

The present investigation is a follow-up to a longitudinal speech and academic study involving approximately 400 normally developing children begun in 1960 by Mildred Templin. From this large data base, the present project invited the participation of two groups of subjects (now aged 32 to 34): (a) 24 adults with a documented history of moderately severe phonological disorder that persisted at least through the end of first grade (probands) and (b) 28 adults from the same birth cohort and schools who were known to have had at least average articulation skills over the same period (controls). Results of follow-up testing revealed that the proband adults performed significantly more poorly than the control adults on all of the administered measures of articulation, expressive language, and receptive language. Results obtained from a screening of nonverbal reasoning ability were equivocal. On a questionnaire measure of personality, both groups scored well within the normal range for the dimensions of extroversion and neuroticism when compared to the test’s normative sample. These results have been interpreted as suggesting that although many adults with a childhood history of delayed phonological development will continue to experience linguistic outcomes that are less favorable than those of controls, their performance in selected nonlanguage domains (e.g., nonverbal reasoning, personality) will be far more typical of the general population.

Screening for Speech and Language Delay in Preschool Children: Systematic Evidence Review for the US Preventive Services Task Force

“…18 As adults, children with phonological difficulties may hold lower-skilled jobs than their non-language-impaired siblings. 19 In addition to persistent speech-and language-related underachievement (verbal, reading, spelling), language-delayed children have also shown more behavior problems and impaired psychosocial adjustment. 20,21 Assessing children for speech and language delay and disorders can involve a number of approaches, although there is no uniformly accepted screening technique for use in the primary care setting.…”

The development of oral motor control and language

“…This very obvious difficulty is not found in many older children and adults with a history of SLI, who nonetheless have real difficulties with language. However, some studies find that children who have an identifiable speech impairment when they are younger can go on to have solely 'language' difficulties when they are older (Felsenfeld et al, 1992;Lewis et al, 2004). Although it may be possible to identify more Age-matched controls LH acquired lesion RH acquired lesion…”

Effect of dialect on identification and severity of speech impairment in Indigenous Australian children

“…Children with speech and language difficulties in their preschool years are at greater risk of reading, language and spelling impairment in later life (Lewis, Freebairn, & Taylor, 2000). There is also greater risk of future academic, social and occupational concerns (Felsenfeld, Broen, & McGue, 1994;Harrison, McLeod, Berthelsen, & Walker, 2009;McCormack, McLeod, McAllister, & Harrison, 2009). For Indigenous Australian children the associated risk of future concerns may be even greater (McTurk, Nutton, Lea, Robinson, & Carapetis, 2008).…”