Ontario Association for Families of Children with Communication Disorders OAFCCD Young Adult Outcomes of Children with Communication Disorders: Social and Behavioural Skills

year study, which has followed a group of children from Kindergarten to age 25. This study is unique because the researchers have been able to track a group of children, some with a speech and/or language disorder, through school and into their adult lives. This study has been able to test the groups’ speech and language skills at regular intervals, and review their development in many areas, including cognition, psychosocial, education, and employment. The study of Kindergarten children in Ottawa-Carleton was started by Joseph H. Beitchman in 1982. At that time the speech and language skills of a large number of kindergarten children were assessed and two groups of children were identified. One group consisted of children identified with a speech or language disorder and the second group of children who did not have any identified impairments. The two groups were matched on characteristics of age, sex and school. With parent agreement, and later their own consent, this group has been re-tested and interviewed at 7 year intervals, in 1982, 1989, 1996, and 2003. This study was not able to evaluate the impact of speech and language intervention services, although the families of all identified children were informed about services in Kindergarten. Rather the focus of the study was on the differences between the two groups in terms of their academic, social, an