title: Residual effects of preschool phonology disorders in grade school, adolescence, and adulthood.
abstract: This study used a cross-sectional design to examine the performance of people with a history of a preschool phonology disorder on measures of phonology, reading, and spelling at preschool age (n = 20), grade school age (n = 23), adolescence (n = 17), and adulthood (n = 17). Results showed that at each age group, subjects with a history of a disorder performed more poorly than control subjects matched for age, sex, and socioeconomic status in all domains. Comparisons across each successive age group revealed a higher performance on measures from preschool to grade school age, and a smaller but steady improvement from grade school age to adolescence to adulthood. Subjects with a history of other language problems, in addition to the phonology disorder overall, performed more poorly than subjects with a history of a preschool phonology disorder alone on the reading and spelling measures. These findings suggest that remnants of a preschool phonology disorder are detectable past grade school age and into adulthood.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH.
authors.forename: B A
authors.initials: BA
authors.lastname: Lewis
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Freebairn
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001184:Articulation Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis; D002648:Child; D002663:Child Language; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D007806:Language Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis*; D007807:Language Tests; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010700:Phonetics; D011932:Reading; D013060:Speech