Follow-up of a sample of children with reading-spelling disorders in adulthood

Abstract

Only a few studies--especially in Germany--deal with the long-term outcome for dyslexic children. The aim of our study was to assess a group of former students of a boarding school for dyslexic children (Chrisophorus School Oberurff). 29 adults with spelling disorder were examined 20 years after they had left school. Their spelling ability was measured with the Mannheimer Spelling Test (MRT), psychiatric symptoms with the Symptom Checklist by Derogatis (SCL-90), occupational status with the Wegener "Magnitude-Prestigeskala" (Magnitude of Prestige Scale), and intelligence with the Culture Fair Intelligence Test (CFT 20). A self-constructed questionnaire was used to assess subjects' self-perception of their reading and spelling abilities, the role of reading and spelling in their work, and the influence of reading and spelling on their choice of employment. Spelling skills at follow-up were more than 0.5 standard deviations above the spelling skills measured at school. The occupational status is rather high at 75% above average. There is no evidence of a significant load of psychiatric symptoms among the dyslexic adults. The general finding is a favorable development of children with spelling disorder 20 years after attendance at a special boarding school for dyslexic children. High IQ, the high socioeconomic status of the probands and their parents, and the long-lasting remedial work at school are most likely the relevant factors for this development.