Receptive and expressive language: The BPVS was not systematically given in childhood, so change was assessed from early to later adulthood only; the EOWVT was completed at adult follow-up only (Table 4). As participants’ ages were above the test ceiling, it was not possible to calculate standard scores and hence language levels were categorised according to age bands. Between early and later adulthood (T2 to T3), there was a small but nonsignificant increase in the number of individuals scoring at the ceiling of the BPVS, and at the current assessment the proportion of participants scoring at ceiling on both receptive and expressive tests was similar. Although analysis based on age bands, rather than
actual scores, clearly has limitations, the small improvement in BPVS scores from early to later adulthood appears to reflect the language changes reported on the ADI-R over the same period. It is more difficult to interpret the relationship between expressive and receptive language in adulthood as this finding could be due to factors such as differences in test ceiling levels or differences in test format. However, the data suggest that, in adults, the discrepancy between expressive and receptive language may be less marked than is typical in childhood.