A longitudinal assessment of early childhood education with integrated speech therapy for children with significant language impairment in Germany

BACKGROUND: In Lower Saxony, Germany, pre-school children with language- and speech-deficits have the opportunity to access kindergartens with integrated language-/speech therapy prior to attending primary school, both regular or with integrated speech therapy. It is unknown whether these early childhood education treatments are helpful and effective. AIMS: To determine the value of early language-/speech therapy treatment in combination with support of personality traits during the pre-school and primary school period on the long-term social and academic development of children with significant language-/speech delay. METHODS & PROCEDURES: We conducted prospective longitudinal case series, following the academic progress of 71 children after they had been discharged from a speech therapy kindergarten (STK) up to 19 years previously. Data collection included details on language/speech impairment, socio-economic factors, psycho-social skills and intelligence quotient. RESULTS & IMPLICATIONS: At the end of the follow-up period, 58 children were attending secondary schools: 44 (76%) children attended a regular secondary school, whereas 14 (24%) children were enrolled in a school with special needs education. The results suggest that self-awareness and intelligence quotient in this study cohort correlated with later academic achievements. CONCLUSION & IMPLICATIONS: Kindergartens and primary schools which support curriculum-integrated language-/speech therapy and allow for different personality traits appear to improve longterm development and academic outcome of children with language-/speech impairment or delay.