A longitudinal study of NAPLAN outcomes in years 3, 5, and 7 for children with communication impairment

The impact of communication impairment in early childhood on literacy and numeracy outcomes was examined for over 8,000 children participating in the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children(LSAC). Scores on the bi-annual National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN)were analysed for 4,322 children in the (K)indergarten cohort of LSAC in years 3, 5, and 7 and 4,073 children in the (B)irth cohort in year 3. Children with communication impairment were identified by parent-reported concern at 4 to 5 and 6 to 7 years of age. The majority of children identified with communication impairment had not accessed speech pathology services. Children with communication impairment achieved significantly lower scores on every NAPLAN subtest (reading,writing, spelling, grammar, and numeracy) compared with children with typical speech and language skills at year 3, 5 and 7 (K cohort) and at year 3 (B cohort). Children whose parents had concerns about both expressive and receptive speech and language skills had the poorest outcomes on NAPLAN reading tests in the K cohort and the poorest outcomes on all NAPLAN tests in the B cohort, when compared to the typical children, children with only expressive speech and language concern, and children with only receptive speech and language concern. This research was commissioned by Speech Pathology Australia and tabled at the Students with Disability Senate Inquiry hearing in September, 2015.