Early identification of children likely to have specific learning difficulties: report of a follow-up

In an earlier study, a group of pre-school children noted to have neurological dysfunction in the newborn period were given psychological tests and the results were compared with those from a control group of children with normal birth histories. The index children scored significantly more poorly on a number of items likely to lead to later learning difficulties at school(Frances Williams 1974). In the follow-up study, groups of the same index and control children were tested again between 8 and 9 1/2 of age. 11 of the 42 index children were unable to read, whereas there were no non-readers in the control group. A further 13 index children were backward by 12 months or more in reading accuracy, compared with five of the 43 control children. Only nine of the index children were reading at or above their appropriate age-level, compared with 22 of the controls. On a test for computational skill, many of the index children also scored much below the level expected for chronological age. These findings are discussed in relation to the possible identification of later learning difficulties from the results of pre-school examinations.