The ways in which speech and language difficulties impact on children’s access to the curriculum

The wider educational needs of children with specific speech and language difficulties are of major concern to practitioners. Yet few studies have documented the literacy skills of these children across a range of different types of educational provision. The present study was designed to address this gap by profiling the language and literacy skills of 59 year 3 children in two local education authorities and 10 children attending specialist residential provision. Children completed standardized measures of language, literacy, numeracy and non-verbal ability. Children’s language and literacy scores were significantly delayed, with an average delay of two years. The implications of these difficulties for practice are discussed.