Instruments to assess children’s language and speech translated and adapted into Brazilian Portuguese: an integrative literature review

A systematic review of assessment instruments for linguistic precursors during child development, ages 6 to 18 months

Linguistic precursors (gaze, joint attention, gestures, social interaction, etc.) have a predictive value over the course of child development. The aim of the present review is to analyze the content structure, and the theoretical perspective, of assessment instruments that focus on linguistic precursors for the 6-18-month age group. The search was achieved through the following citation databases: BVS, MEDLINE/PubMed, Web of Science, SciELO, Redalyc, Web of Science, Google Scholar, as well as the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA). Elegible articles were obtained using the following terms: "neuropsychological tests," "nonverbal communication," "child language" and "infant" as well as their equivalents in Spanish and Portuguese. Twenty-six assessment instruments were found to be compatible with the eligibility criteria. From the results, 19 instruments explore various domains of linguistic precursors, while 7 are task-specific proposals. Five instruments are aimed at early detection of signs of Autistic Spectrum Disorder. The implementation of Bruner's model of communicative functions was found on 15% of the instruments. This article provides timely information for clinicians who work with children during early stages of development, in relation to the methodical monitoring, assessment and accompaniment of infants and toddlers during the prelinguistic stage.

Validity evidence of the Test of Narrative Language (TNL) adapted to Brazilian Portuguese

ABSTRACT Purpose: to furnish psychometric evidence of the Test of Narrative Language version, examining a) the equivalence and analysis of internal consistency; b) performance differentiation per age; c) convergent validity; and d) dimensionality analysis. Methods: the adapted test version was applied to 68 children with typical development, aged 5 to 6 years and 11 months, from private and public schools. The data were analyzed for the reliability and validity of the instrument. Results: in the three narrative comprehension items, the highest scores were obtained when the story was told with five pictures in a logical sequence, followed by the one with a single picture, and lastly, the one with no pictures. In the three narrative production tasks, the best performance was in the story told along with a single picture, followed by the five pictures in a logical sequence, and lastly, the one with no pictures. There was no significant difference in the scores of all private-school children and in those of the 6-year-old public- and private-school children. The single-factor structure better explained the instrument dimensionality. Conclusion: the reliability and validity evidence demonstrated its indication, and the potential of the results must be taken into account for future standardized construction to assess oral narrative.

Evidências de validade do “Test of Narrative Language (TNL)” adaptado para o português brasileiro

ABSTRACT Purpose: to furnish psychometric evidence of the Test of Narrative Language version, examining a) the equivalence and analysis of internal consistency; b) performance differentiation per age; c) convergent validity; and d) dimensionality analysis. Methods: the adapted test version was applied to 68 children with typical development, aged 5 to 6 years and 11 months, from private and public schools. The data were analyzed for the reliability and validity of the instrument. Results: in the three narrative comprehension items, the highest scores were obtained when the story was told with five pictures in a logical sequence, followed by the one with a single picture, and lastly, the one with no pictures. In the three narrative production tasks, the best performance was in the story told along with a single picture, followed by the five pictures in a logical sequence, and lastly, the one with no pictures. There was no significant difference in the scores of all private-school children and in those of the 6-year-old public- and private-school children. The single-factor structure better explained the instrument dimensionality. Conclusion: the reliability and validity evidence demonstrated its indication, and the potential of the results must be taken into account for future standardized construction to assess oral narrative.