Behaviour problems in children followed from 5 to 8 1/2-9 years of age and their relation to educational attainment

Children from a cohort of consecutive births identified with behaviour problems by the Richman Screening Questionnaire at the age of 5 years continued to have behaviour problems, as assessed by the Rutter parental questionnaire and the Bristol Social Adjustment Guide, more frequently at the age of 8 1/2-9 years than matched control children. No difference between the groups in non-verbal IQ was identified by the Pidgeon Non-Verbal Test BD. The Neale Test of Reading Ability showed delays of 5 months for both accuracy and comprehension for the study group compared with the controls. These results confirm the recent findings of Richman and others (1982) in a different setting.