[Follow-up of psychiatric disorders and specific developmental delay disorders in special education students]

In a prospective longitudinal study 72 children who were attending a special school for children with learning disabilities in Erlangen were examined in 1990 and again in 1992/93. At the first examination the children's mean age was 7 years 1 month and at the second 8 years 10 months. The sample contained many more boys than girls. Reported here are the findings on the course of the psychiatric disorders and the specific developmental disorders of speech and language and motor function. There was a marked decrease in the prevalence of psychiatric disorders. Of the 17 children with a psychiatric disorder at follow-up, 13 (76%) also had a disorder at the start of the study and of the 23 with a psychiatric disorder at the start 13 (57%) still had a disorder at follow-up. Children with enuresis and those with disturbances of activity or attention had the best prognosis. The special school had a positive effect on conduct. The prevalence of specific developmental disorders also decreased over the two-year period. As expected, specific speech articulation disorders had the best prognosis. All other disorders had a poor prognosis. Increases in prevalence were mainly the result of different cutoff points for a given diagnosis at different ages. The high number of specific disorders of motor function at both time points is especially noteworthy.