Single word test for the assessment of speech sound production in Persian speaking children: Development, validity and reliability

Phonological assessment for Greek (PAel) test: Reliability and validity in 4-to 6-year-old preschool children

Single-word phonological tests are widely used for detecting children at risk for Speech Sound Disorders (SSDs). However, specific conceptual and operational criteria should be evaluated to ensure that these assessments are valid and reliable and can serve as diagnostic tools. The current study aimed to investigate the validity and reliability of the screener of a phonological Greek instrument, named the Phonological Assessment for Greek (PAel) comparing the phonological performance of typically developing (TD) children and children with SSDs, aged 4 to 6 years. The participants were 20 TD children and 40 children with SSDs. All participants completed the screener of PAel, the 70-word list of the standardised Test of Phonetic and Phonological Development (TPPD), and a language test, namely the Action Picture Test. Participants who scored below the 25th percentile on the language test were excluded. Phonological analysis revealed that PAel has high content validity. The participants who had received a diagnosis of SSDs presented restricted consonant and cluster inventories and significantly lower whole-word match levels in comparison to their TD peers. The overall Spearman's correlation coefficients between PAel and TPPD were 0.611 for TD children (p < 0.001) and 0.875 for children with SSDs (p < 0.001), indicating good criterion validity. The tool demonstrated strong test-retest reliability and inter-rater reliability with Spearman values exceeding 0.85, and Intra-class correlation coefficients over 0.90. Overall, the results suggest that PAel has satisfactory reliability and validity and can be used as an assessment tool to detect children at risk for SSDs.

Speech sound production, speech intelligibility, and oral-motor outcomes of preterm children: Are they different from full term children?

We studied the speech sound abilities of preterm (PT) children. Thirty-one PT and twenty-nine full term (FT) children were recruited. Speech abilities were assessed in single word, story retelling, oral-motor, and intelligibility. PT group had poorer outcomes (Mean = 25.77, SD = 17.19) than FT ones (Mean = 5.9, SD = 4.97) for single word (p < 0.001). They obtained poorer results (Mean = 9.65, SD = 7.85) than FT peers (Mean = 2.95, SD = 3.34) in story retelling (p = 0.002) and intelligibility (Man-Whitney U = 89.50, p = 0.02). They obtained lower values for diadochokesis/patuku/(p < 0.001), isolated (p = 0.001), and sequenced movements (p = 0.02) but not for diadochokesis/patukejk/(p = 0.12). Significant values of correlation were found among single word scores with birth weight (r = -.54, p < .001) and gestational age (r = -0.67, p < .001) and story retelling scores with birth weight (r = -0.40, p = .013) and gestational age (r = -0.64, p < .001). The associations of single word score and maternal (r = -0.02, p = .85) and paternal education (r = -0.10, p = .41) were not significant. No significant relationships were obtained between story retelling score and maternal (r = 0.16, p = .34) and paternal education (r = 0.09, p = .59). The significant values were obtained for associations of intelligibility with isolated (r = 0.54, p = .001), sequenced movements (r = 0.59, p < .001), and diadochokesis/patukejk/(r = 0.39, p = .016) but not significant for intelligibility and diadochokesis/patuku/(r = 0.25, p = .13). Findings implied that speech abilities are weaker in PT children.

Development of a speech production test in Azeri Turkish speaking children

Due to the lack of appropriate tests for the assessment of speech sounds of Azeri Turkish speaking children, the present study aimed to develop and validate a single word test. A total of 150 typically developing children were recruited in the study (30 children for investigating the name agreement and 120 children to establish construct validity). In the first step, a test with 31 items was developed in terms of suggested criteria in the literature including word frequency, word length, syllabic structure, familiarity, and picturability of words. Then, we asked the expert panel's opinion for the test items. The value of the content validity ratio for each target word was 1.00 except for one item. To administer the test, we asked the participants to name images. Name agreement of the items was determined through administrating the test. The percentages for the indices of name agreement were 87.68 and 0.17, respectively. The findings of the item-by-item test-retest and inter-rater reliability showed satisfactory values in terms of consonants in the initial and final positions. Also, the value of the internal consistency was calculated to be kr = 0.78 (p < 0.001). The psychometric properties of this scale with 31 items proved that it is appropriate for quantifying the speech sound production in Azeri Turkish typically developing children.

Development and measurement of psychometric properties of the Persian test of speech consistency in children with typical development

The current research pursues the study of developing the Persian test of speech consistency and investigating speech consistency in normally developing children in Iran. After developing the Persian test of speech consistency, the obtained speech samples of 317 participants (163 girls and 154 boys) were analyzed. This test of consistency includes 27 items. Experts' consensus over the characteristics of the Persian test of speech consistency was above 85%. Different age groups had statistically significant differences for the mean scores of the variable responses (p < .001), consistent correct (p < .001), and consistent incorrect responses (p = .007) in the Persian test of speech consistency. Also, there was a high value for the inter-rater reliability (ICC = .88, p < .001) as well as the moderate value for the test-retest reliability (ICC = .89, p < .001). The Persian test of speech consistency is regarded as a reliable and valid scale for measuring the speech consistency in Persian-speaking children. Future studies are proposed to investigate the speech consistency in Persian-speaking children with various kinds of speech sound disorders.

Speech and language development of children born following assisted reproductive technologies

OBJECTIVES

Studies which targeted communication skills of children born following assisted reproductive technologies have reported contradictory results. Concerning the increasing rates of children born in these technologies and the importance of some factors as risk factors like birth weight, gestational age, and the number of children per birth in these procedures, studying speech and language skills is critical. So, the current study aimed to investigate the speech and language capabilities of Persian speaking children born following these procedures.

METHODS

A descriptive and cross-sectional study was carried out in Babol city in 2016-2017 to investigate the receptive and expressive language and speech of Persian speaking children born in assisted reproductive technologies in the age range of 6-72 months. Parents of 78 children completed the Newsha Developmental Scale to assess language and speech skills. Then, the language and speech performance of the participants were compared in terms of gestational age, birth weight, number of children per birth, and sex in the current research and they are categorized as normal or having delay in language and speech development.

RESULTS

The participants had statistically significant difference for the receptive language in terms of gestational age (χ² (1) = 5.76, p = 0.01) and birth weight (χ² (1) = 8.22, p = 0.004) but in terms of the number of children per birth (χ² (1) = 7.11, p = 0.009) and sex (χ² (1) = 0.037, p = 0.84) did not have statistically significant difference. The children did not show significant difference for the expressive language in terms of gestational age (χ² (1) = 1.09, p = 0.29), birth weight (χ² (1) = 0.34, p = 0.55), the number of children per birth (χ² (1) = 1.58, p = 0.2), and sex (χ2 (1) = 0.037, p = 0.84). The participants of the present study did not have statistically significant difference in speech in terms of gestational age (χ² (1) = 2.82, p = 0.09), the number of children per birth (χ² (1) = 3.57, p = 0.06), and sex (χ2 (1) = 0.06, p = 0.79). They had significant difference in speech only in terms of birth weight (χ² (1) = 4.13, p = 0.04).

CONCLUSION

Based on the results of the administration of the Newsha Developmental Scale as a screening tool, it seems that some factors like sex and number of children per birth do not affect speech and language performance of children born following ART. Another factor including gestational age and birth weight had effects on some domains. It is essential to design longitudinal studies to follow the speech and language performance of this population.

Development and validation of a new scale for assessment of speech stimulability in Persian speaking children

OBJECTIVES

Speech and language pathologists need to assess speech stimulability as a crucial component of assessment in clients with speech sound disorders. The purpose of the current survey was to develop and validate an instrument to assess speech stimulability in Persian speaking children.

METHODS

The present study was accomplished in two steps. In step I, the test material was developed based on extensive literature review, and five experts were requested to make judgment on the content validity of the test. We evaluated other psychometric properties in step II. A pilot study was performed by the administration of the test on 25 children, and then the correct answer percentages of 100 participants for each item of the Persian test of speech stimulability were calculated. The participants were divided into four groups by six-month intervals. Inter-rater reliability, test-retest, and internal consistency were computed for the reliability measures. Statistical Package for the Social Sciences, version 24.0 (SPSS, Inc., Chicago, IL) was used for the statistical analysis of the data. The significance level was (P < 0.05).

RESULTS

The final version of the test includes 132 items (consonant and vowel singleton words and sentences). There was no significant difference among experts' judgment in the content validity of the items (P > 0.05). All of the children could easily repeat the items in the pilot study. The participants were stimulable more than 80% for all of the consonants except/ʒ/and 100% for the vowels in the items of the final version of the Persian test of speech stimulability. All of the reliability values (inter-rater reliability, test-retest, and internal consistency) were higher than 0.8.

CONCLUSION

Investigation of psychometric properties of the Persian test of speech stimulability showed that this test is a valid and reliable scale to assess the speech stimulability in Persian speaking children.