The development and productivity of a measure for identifying low language abilities in children aged 24–36 months

BMC Pediatrics

Research

Robert Rush¹  Philip Wilson²  Vicky Gilroy³  Cristina McKean⁴  Jenna Charlton⁴  James Law⁴ 

[1] Finn Coral Statistical Services, 16A Denham Green Terrace, EH5 3PF, Edinburgh, UK;Institute of Applied Health Sciences, University of Aberdeen, IV2 3JH, Inverness, UK;Institute of Health Visiting

[2]  c/o Royal Society for Public Health, John Snow House, 59 Mansell Street, E1 8AN, London, UK;School of Education Communication and Language Sciences, Newcastle University, King George VI Building, Queen Victoria Rd, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE7 1RU, Tyne and Wear, UK;

关键词: Child development;    Language;    Language delay;    Surveillance;    Developmental screening;    Early prevention;    Public health;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s12887-023-04079-x

 received in 2023-01-14, accepted in 2023-05-17,  发布年份 2023

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundAccurate early identification of children with low language ability is important but existing measures generally have low sensitivity. This remains an area of concern for preventive and public health services. This study aimed to create and evaluate a measure of child language, communication and related risks which can be used by community health nurses to accurately identify children with low language aged 24–30 months.MethodsThe Early Language Identification Measure (ELIM) was developed and comprised five measurement sections, each measuring different aspects of development combined into a single measure. This was tested blind against a reference standard language measure, the Preschool Language Scale-5 (PLS-5), at the universal 24–30-month health visitor review in England. The threshold for likely low language was the tenth centile or below on the PLS-5. The aim was to ascertain the performance of the five individual sections in the scale, and consider the optimum combination of sections, for predicting low language ability. Specificity, sensitivity, and positive and negative predictive values were reported for each of the five sections of the ELIM alone and in conjunction with each other. The performance for children from monolingual English-speaking families and those who spoke languages other than English were also considered separately.ResultsThree hundred and seventy-six children were assessed on both the ELIM identification measure and the PLS-5 with 362 providing complete data. While each section of the ELIM predicted low language ability, the optimal combination for predicting language outcome was the parent reported vocabulary checklist coupled with the practitioner observation of the child’s communication and related behaviours. This gave a sensitivity of 0·98 with a specificity of 0·63.ConclusionsA novel measure has been developed which accurately identifies children at risk of low language, allowing clinicians to target resources efficiently and intervene early.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© BioMed Central Ltd., part of Springer Nature 2023

【 图 表 】

13690_2023_1170_Article_IEq205.gif

Fig. 7

13690_2023_1170_Article_IEq76.gif

12888_2023_5142_Article_IEq12.gif

Fig. 5