Discontinuation of specialist educational provision for children with DLD in the Netherlands: performance and predictors

Abstract

Background. Developmental Language Disorder (DLD) is  characterized by large heterogeneity, but little is known about the variation in specialist educational support that children with DLD receive. This longitudinal study compared the language and reading performance of children with DLD for whom provision had been discontinued at age 7 or 8 years and children with DLD for whom it was continued, relative to typically developing (TD) controls. Additionally, we investigated linguistic, cognitive and environmental predictors of the discontinuation of provision.

Methods. Monolinguals and bilinguals with (n=120) and without (n=113) DLD participated. Standardized measures were used to examine the proportion of children per group with poor language and reading ability at age 7 or 8. Binary logistic regression was conducted to predict the discontinuation of specialist educational provision, including language and cognitive skills at age 5 or 6, language growth, parental education and bilingualism. 

Results. Specialist educational provision was discontinued for 25% of the children with DLD. More bilinguals than monolinguals received continuing support, although this difference fell just short of significance. Children with DLD,  both with and without specialist provision, performed more poorly on the standardized instruments than TD children, and the children with DLD with provision more often scored poorly than those without provision. Parental education, aswell as children’s baseline scores on and growth in inflectional morphology, predicted the discontinuation of specialist educational support. 

Conclusions and implications. Within a relatively short time period, specialist educational provision was discontinued for many children with DLD. Although these children perform better than peers with DLD with continuing specialist support, their language and reading skills are often poor. This group thus remains vulnerable and requires attention. Future research into decisions about specialist educational provision is needed to understand the role and relevance of inflectional morphology and parental education in the (dis)continuation of provision.