Gray Sarah, Kvalsvig Amanda, O'Connor Meredith, O'Connor Elodie, Incledon Emily, Tarasuik Joanne, Goldfeld Sharon
a Centre for Community Child Health, Murdoch Childrens Research Institute, Royal Children's Hospital , Parkville , Australia and.
b Department of Paediatrics , University of Melbourne, Royal Children's Hospital , Parkville , Australia.
Int J Speech Lang Pathol. 2018 Aug;20(4):447-457. doi: 10.1080/17549507.2017.1294200. Epub 2017 Mar 14.
Monitoring oral language skills at the population level would provide valuable data to inform policy decisions to better support children's oral language skills in schools. The Australian Early Development Census (AEDC) is a teacher-rated population measure of early child development that includes a rating of children's oral communication in the classroom (OCC).
This study evaluates the validity of the OCC indicator for population monitoring of children's oral language skills, capitalising on data from two datasets: the 2012 AEDC cohort (n = 289 973) and a subsample of children from the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children for whom AEDC data were also collected (n = 720).
Construct validity was demonstrated by showing significant differences in OCC ratings between subpopulations of children who would be expected to differ in terms of oral language skills at school entry (e.g. children with a diagnosed speech-language impairment compared to those with no impairment). OCC ratings were associated with externally validated measures of language, suggesting convergent validity. No relationship was found between OCC ratings and physical health scores, indicating divergent validity.
The findings support the use and interpretation of the OCC indicator as a tool for population-level monitoring of oral language in Australian school entrants.
在人群层面监测口语技能可为政策决策提供有价值的数据，以便更好地支持学校中儿童的口语技能。澳大利亚早期发展普查（AEDC）是一项由教师评定的儿童早期发展人群测量指标，其中包括对儿童在课堂上口语交流（OCC）的评定。
本研究利用两个数据集的数据评估了OCC指标在人群层面监测儿童口语技能的有效性：2012年AEDC队列（n = 289973）以及澳大利亚儿童纵向研究中也收集了AEDC数据的儿童子样本（n = 720）。
通过显示预计在入学时口语技能存在差异的儿童亚群体之间OCC评分的显著差异，证明了结构效度（例如，与无语言障碍的儿童相比，患有诊断出的言语语言障碍的儿童）。OCC评分与经过外部验证的语言测量指标相关，表明具有收敛效度。未发现OCC评分与身体健康得分之间存在关系，表明具有区分效度。
研究结果支持将OCC指标用作澳大利亚入学儿童人群层面口语监测工具的使用和解读。
