A longitudinal assessment of early childhood education with integrated speech therapy for children with significant language impairment in Germany.

Background: In Lower Saxony, Germany, pre-school children with language- and speech-deficits have the opportunity to access kindergartens with integrated language-/speech therapy prior to attending primary school, both regular or with integrated speech therapy. It is unknown whether these early childhood education treatments are helpful and effective.

Aims: To determine the value of early language-/speech therapy treatment in combination with support of personality traits during the pre-school and primary school period on the long-term social and academic development of children with significant language-/speech delay.