Department of Audiology and Speech Pathology, The University of Melbourne, Carlton, VIC, Australia.
Department of Paediatrics, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, VIC, Australia.
Int J Lang Commun Disord. 2020 May;55(3):345-358. doi: 10.1111/1460-6984.12522. Epub 2020 Feb 11.
There is no sufficiently accurate short-language measure that could be used by speech-language pathologists, teachers or paraprofessionals to screen young school-aged children to identify those requiring in-depth language evaluations. This may be due to poor development of the available measures, which have omitted crucial test development steps. Applying more stringent development procedures could result in a measure with sufficient accuracy.
To create and validate a short-language measure that has acceptable accuracy, validity and reliability, and which can be used to identify children who require further assessment and/or referral to speech-language services.
METHODS & PROCEDURES: The study consisted of two phases. In Phase 1 (measure creation), 56 children were assessed with 160 direction-following and sentence-recall test items and a reference measure, the Clinical Evaluation of Language Fundamentals-Fourth Edition (CELF-4). Items were then examined for their individual characteristics (validity, reliability, difficulty and discrimination) via item analysis and the highest quality items were selected to form the Short Language Measure (SLaM). In Phase 2 (measure validation), 126 children were assessed with the SLaM and the reference measure (CELF-4) to determine SLaM's accuracy, validity and reliability.
OUTCOMES & RESULTS: A total of 40 test items were selected to form SLaM in Phase 1. Findings from Phase 2 indicated that SLaM had an accuracy of 94% (sensitivity = 94%, specificity = 93%), validity of 0.89 and reliability of 0.93. These values remained relatively consistent across both phases.
CONCLUSIONS & IMPLICATIONS: The results indicated that SLaM has excellent psychometric properties. It can be used to identify children who need further evaluation by a speech-language pathologist. What this paper adds What is already known on this subject Prior research suggests that combining a direction-following and a sentence-recall task has sufficient discrimination accuracy and agreement with an omnibus language measure. Trialling a large set of direction-following and sentence-recall test items to select those with the highest individual characteristics could result in an effective short-language measure. What this paper adds to existing knowledge A short-language measure (SLaM) was created and validated on two independent samples of children. Items with the highest validities, reliabilities and discrimination capacities were selected to form SLaM. This procedure resulted in a measure with high validity and reliability that exceeded the criterion for adequate discrimination accuracy. What are the potential or actual clinical implications of this work? SLaM is an effective measure that can accurately identify children who require detailed evaluations by speech-language pathologists.
目前还没有足够准确的简短语言测试工具，言语语言病理学家、教师或其他专业人员可以用它来筛查年幼的学龄儿童，以确定哪些儿童需要进行深入的语言评估。这可能是由于现有的测试工具发展不完善，省略了关键的测试开发步骤。应用更严格的开发程序可能会产生具有足够准确性的测试工具。
创建和验证一种简短语言测试工具，该工具具有可接受的准确性、有效性和可靠性，可以用来识别需要进一步评估和/或转介到言语语言服务的儿童。
该研究分为两个阶段。在第一阶段（工具创建），56 名儿童接受了 160 项定向跟随和句子回忆测试项目以及参考测试工具《临床语言基础评估第四版》（CELF-4）的评估。然后通过项目分析检查每个项目的个体特征（有效性、可靠性、难度和区分度），并选择最高质量的项目组成简短语言测试工具（SLaM）。在第二阶段（工具验证），126 名儿童接受了 SLaM 和参考测试工具（CELF-4）的评估，以确定 SLaM 的准确性、有效性和可靠性。
在第一阶段共选择了 40 项测试组成 SLaM。第二阶段的结果表明，SLaM 的准确性为 94%（灵敏度=94%，特异性=93%），有效性为 0.89，可靠性为 0.93。这些值在两个阶段都保持相对稳定。
结果表明，SLaM 具有优异的心理测量学特性。它可用于识别需要言语语言病理学家进一步评估的儿童。本文的新增内容 关于该主题的现有知识 先前的研究表明，结合定向跟随和句子回忆任务具有足够的区分准确性和与综合语言测试工具的一致性。试用大量的定向跟随和句子回忆测试项目来选择具有最高个体特征的项目可能会产生一种有效的简短语言测试工具。本文在现有知识基础上的新增内容 为两个独立的儿童样本创建和验证了简短语言测试工具（SLaM）。选择具有最高有效性、可靠性和区分能力的项目组成 SLaM。这种方法产生了一种具有高有效性和可靠性的测试工具，其区分准确性超过了可接受的标准。这项工作的潜在或实际临床意义是什么？ SLaM 是一种有效的工具，可以准确识别需要言语语言病理学家进行详细评估的儿童。
