[Development of picture verb test for 36-54 month-old normal Persian-speaking children and determination of its validity and reliability]

ABSTRACT

Verb is one of the most important aspects of a sentence, and verb deficit is a noticeable part of developmental language disorders. In Iran, there is no standard test for evaluating this aspect of language in children. This study aimed to develop and evaluate a picture verb test for 36- 54 month-old normal Persian-speaking children, and assess its ability to differentiate between children. A list of verbs that could be depicted was collected and content validity was assessed by seven speech therapist. 55 verbs were selected. Then, three pictures were prepared for each verb and one of those pictures was chosen by the same seven specialists. 106 children aged 36-54 months participated in this study. They were divided into three groups [36-42, 42-48, and 48-54 months]. Reliability of this test was assessed by Spearman's correlation and internal consistency. Correlation between children's scores and their age was calculated. Content validity index of all verbs were 1. Spearman's correlation of 0.89 and internal consistency of 0.60 was obtained. By deletion of item method, the Kuder-Richardson score was enhanced to 0.71. There was a significant correlation between children's ability to respond and their age [r=0.76, p < 0.001]. This test is a suitable tool for assessment of verbs in 36-54 month-old Persian-speaking children and can differentiate between three groups under study