The Manchester Language Study initial cohort: Seven-year-old data for children with developmental language disorders attending language units in England 1995-1997

The project aimed to a) determine the psycholinguistic profiles of children attending language units in England, b) investigate their social-emotional well-being and c) gather teacher opinion regarding the nature of the children’s difficulties and their educational placement. The Manchester Language Study (MLS) began in 1995 and spans approximately 20 years from childhood to early adulthood. This collection includes data related to the first cohort recruited for this longitudinal study when the children participating were approximately 7 years of age. Language units at that time were specialized classes for children who had been identified with developmental language disorders (DLD), i.e., language difficulties are the main concern for these children. Language unit placements were offered to children who, even with support, would find it difficult to cope in mainstream education. These children are deemed to need a structured small group setting with intensive language input that usually involves both teachers and speech and language therapists. The data for this cohort in early adulthood is published and available in ReShare (publication reference 852066, link provided under Related resources).