This investigation examined whether articulation problems represent a more pervasive linguistic or cognitive disability and whether a genetic component exists, by following up a longitudinal articulation study of 394 normally developing children begun in 1960. A group of 24 individuals, aged 31-33, who had participated in the original study and who had displayed at least moderate articulation problems which had not resolved by the end of first grade, were administered a battery of cognitive, linguistic, demographic, and environmental measures. Spouses and children over age three also completed the tests. Compared to a group of 28 controls, adult subjects produced significantly more residual articulation errors, showed poorer performance on a language test and a block design test, had completed fewer years of education, and were more likely to hold jobs in unskilled occupational classes. Children of subjects performed more poorly than control children on cognitive tasks, although offspring data were more variable than adult data and group differences were not as large. Children of subjects also received lower articulation scores, but exhibited skills considered to be age-appropriate, perhaps because a relatively large number of the children had received articulation intervention. Having a parent with a moderate articulation disorder in childhood appears to greatly increase offspring risk for speech and language disability. (JDD)