Screening for the identification of oral language difficulties in Brazilian preschoolers: A validation study
Abstract
Purpose: This study aimed to develop and validate a screening questionnaire for the early identification of language difficulties in Brazilian Portuguese–speaking preschool children. Method: The article is divided into two studies. In the first study, we reported the theoretical principles that guided the development of the Screening for Identification of Oral Language Difficulties by Preschool Teachers (SIOLD) and tested the validity of its structure. The psychometric properties of the SIOLD were tested using a sample of 754 children attending Year 1 of preschool. Thirty-two teachers coming from eight different schools completed individual questionnaires for all their students. Confirmatory factor analysis was used to assess the validity of the SIOLD. In the second study, we investigated the accuracy of the questionnaire for identifying children with oral language difficulties using a different sample of 100 preschool children. Using receiver operating characteristic and precision recall curves, we assessed the sensitivity and specificity of the SIOLD to identify children who showed impaired language performance in a short battery of tests. Results: The SIOLD has been shown to be a valid and accurate questionnaire for assessing the form and content of oral language in preschool children. It showed good accuracy, with sensitivity ranging between .750 and .857 and specificity of .946 for the identification of language difficulties. Among the cases positively identified by the SIOLD as having language difficulties, 54.5% were true cases of language disorders, while 45.5% were false alarms. The combination of these findings shows that the SIOLD overpredicts positive cases but identifies most children with true language disorders and passes most children without language disorders, as required of a good screening test. Conclusions: The questionnaire provides a useful tool for enabling Brazilian teachers to refer children with language difficulties to the speech-language services. The theoretical and clinical implications are discussed.
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The TPL and SIOLD studies involved 4- to 6-year-old children, with diagnostic accuracy increasing toward 5 years of age.
“The study concerning the Tamiz de Problemas de Lenguaje—TPL [99]—and the Screening for Identification of Oral—SIOLD [100]—involved 4- to 6-year-old children with diagnostic accuracy increasing toward 5 years of age.”
From Developmental Language Disorder: Early Predictors, Age for the Diagnosis, and Diagnostic Tools. A Scoping Review (2021) · cites this paper as [100]
The SIOLD showed acceptable sensitivity (0.75-0.86) and good specificity (0.95) values.
“The SIOLD showed acceptable sensitivity (ranging between 0.75 and 0.86) and good specificity (0.95) values.”
From Developmental Language Disorder: Early Predictors, Age for the Diagnosis, and Diagnostic Tools. A Scoping Review (2021) · cites this paper as [100]
The SIOLD proved useful for Brazilian preschool teachers to refer children with language difficulties between 5 and 6 years of age to speech language services.
“Thus, it proved useful for Brazilian preschool teachers to refer children with language difficulties between 5 and 6 years of age to the speech language services.”
From Developmental Language Disorder: Early Predictors, Age for the Diagnosis, and Diagnostic Tools. A Scoping Review (2021) · cites this paper as [100]
Although the SIOLD overpredicted positive cases, it identified most children with true language disorders and passed most children without language disorders.
“Although the SIOLD overpredicted positive cases, it identified most children with true language disorders and passed most children without language disorders.”
From Developmental Language Disorder: Early Predictors, Age for the Diagnosis, and Diagnostic Tools. A Scoping Review (2021) · cites this paper as [100]
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References 55 · Cited by 5
Research works printed but not linked: 11
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- Authors
- Puglisi, M. L., Blasi, H. F., & Snowling, M. J.
- Affiliations
- University of Oxford (GB)
- Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina (BR)
- Venue
- Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools
- Published
- 2020-07-15
- Volume
- 51
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 852-865
- ISSN
- 0161-1461 (ISSN-L)
- 1558-9129
- OpenAlex
- W3033066583
- Cited by
- 5
- References
- 55
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2022: 2 · 2021: 1
- FWCI
- 1.13
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Language Speech and Hearing Services in Schools (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Language Development and Disorders
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Neuropsychology and Physiological Psychology › Developmental and Educational Neuropsychology
- Social Sciences › Education › Early Childhood Education and Development
- Keywords
- speaking difficulties, language screening, preschool children, Brazilian Portuguese, screening accuracy, sensitivity and specificity
- MeSH terms
- Brazil, Child, Preschool, Factor Analysis, Statistical, Female, Humans, Language Development Disorders, Language Tests, Male, Mass Screening, Psychometrics, Surveys and Questionnaires, Sensitivity and Specificity, Reproducibility of Results, Risk Assessment
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