title: Classification of children with specific language impairment: longitudinal considerations.
abstract: This paper reports on the longitudinal results of a large project involving 242 seven-year-old children attending language units in England. Following our work outlining 6 subgroups of children with language impairment (Conti-Ramsden, Crutchley, & Botting, 1997), we examine the stability of the 6 subgroups of children with specific language impairment already identified, using data collected from the same children at age 8 years. The findings suggest there is considerable stability in the patterns of difficulties delineated by the classification system involving 6 subgroups. Poorer stability was evident in the classification of the children across time with 45% of children moving across subgroups. The membership stability of the proposed classification system was very similar to that found when the children were classified into 3 subgroups following another well-known system (Rapin, 1996). The findings are discussed with particular reference to issues surrounding the classification of children with SLI.
authors.affiliation: Centre for the Study of Language Impairments, University of Manchester, United Kingdom. Conti-Ramsden@man.ac.uk
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Conti-Ramsden
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Botting
mesh_terms: D002648:Child; D016000:Cluster Analysis; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D007806:Language Disorders / Q000145:classification* / Q000175:diagnosis*; D007807:Language Tests; D008297:Male; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012720:Severity of Illness Index