Background: The youngest children in an academic year are reported to be educationally disadvantaged and overrepresented in referrals to clinical services. In this study we investigate for the first time whether these disadvantages are indicative of a mismatch between language competence at school entry and the academic demands of the classroom.…

Compared were the academic achievement, personal and social adjustment, and special education referral rates of early, middle, and late school entrants. It was hypothesized that: (1) there is a significant relationship between entry age and achievement and adjustment variables; (2) achievement and adjustment are significantly different among…