Effects of Preschool Language Training Later Academic Achievement of Children Language and Disabilities

Abstract

This analysis combines the study of a preschool predictive instrument with the assessment of the effects of preschool training program on the later academic achievement of children with language and learning disabilities. A preliminary follow-up study of children who were initially evaluated and trained in a joint project of the Houston Speech and Hearing Center and the Pasadena, Texas, Independent School District from 1963--1966 revealed marked differences in later academic achievement. From a sample of subjects with language and learning disabilities, 70 percent of those who completed the preacademic training program were found to be achieving at grade level in 1969. Of those subjects who entered but did not complete the program, only 25 percent were achieving at grade level, just 18 percent of a control group with language and learning disabilities who did not receive preacademic training were achieving at grade level. The results of the pilot study support the use of the Language and Learning Assessment for Training battery as an initial identifying instrument during preschool years, and the use of specific preschool training methods for children with language and learning disabilities.