The present paper reports a secondary analysis of data from a published randomised controlled trial. This paper compares the outcomes of children with specific language impairment (SLI) and those with a general delay (GD) following participation in either an oral language intervention or a phonology with reading intervention. Sixty-eight children were included in the analysis, 29 with SLI and 39 with a general delay. The interventions were delivered by trained teaching assistants on a daily basis during a twenty-week period for small group and individual work. Performance on measures of language and literacy at the end of the intervention period and after a 5-month delay indicated better response to the phonology with reading intervention for the SLI group. There was no difference between the SLI and GD groups in response to oral language intervention. Findings are discussed with reference to the role of non-verbal IQ in literacy development. (Contains 3 tables, 1 figure and 1 endnote.)