Eighteen people (with ages ranging from 7 to 22 years) who had been diagnosed as aphasic 10 years previously were assessed in terms of current functioning to test the hypothesis that, since the subjects had a specific language disorder, other areas of adaptive development should be relatively spared, and communication scores should be significantly lower than self-help and socialization measures. A battery of cognitive, receptive and expressive language, and adaptive behavior measures was administered. Results did not support the hypothesis: daily living and socialization skills were impaired in adolescents with severe language disorder as much as their performance in formal language tests. Receptive ability appeared to better predict adaptive skill than IQ or expressive ability. Among conclusions drawn were that although the disorders of language acquisition might appear quite specific in early childhood, they actually have a pervasive effect on overall development; and, unlike retarded individuals, students with primary communication deficits fail to progress in social and daily living skills. (CL)