The language and speech development of 44 extremely low birth weight (ELVW) children, 20 boys and 24 girls, were examined at school age (7-9 years old) in Osaka Medical Center & Research Institute for Maternal and Child Health. Their mean birth weight 871.6g (SD 158.9), mean gestational age was 27 weeks (SD 1.9) and mean Full Scale IQ (Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children Revised) was 94.4 (SD 16.4), although 14 children had some kinds of handicaps. Their mean score of receptive vocabulary (86.8±17.3) and of expressive vocabulary (88.1±16.0) were significantly lower than 39 control children. The skillful tasks of oral voluntary movement were also inferior to controls, but there was no difference in oral diadochokinesis between the ELVW and the controls. It was showed that more of the ELVW had an immaturity of articulation abilities than the controls. The frequency of articulation disorder in the ELVW was not different from the controls, and their misarticulation types were within normal developmental level.

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