Diagnostic validity, accuracy and inter-rater reliability of a phonological assessment for Danish-speaking children.

PURPOSE: The identification and differential diagnosis of children with speech sound disorders (SSD) is an important task of paediatric speech-language pathologists (SLPs). A correct identification requires valid and reliable assessment tools. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to investigate the diagnostic validity and accuracy as well as inter-rater reliability of the phonology test of LogoFova which was developed for Danish-speaking children. METHOD: Investigation was carried out on two Danish-speaking populations: 61 suspected typically developing (TD) children and 61 children with suspected speech sound disorder aged 2-6 years. All children were assessed with the single-word picture-naming test of LogoFoVa. In order to determine diagnostic validity, it was investigated whether the test differentiated TD children from children with SSD as well as subgroups of SSD via a phonetic and phonological pattern analysis. Two different cut-off criteria were applied for the definition of patterns. Sensitivity and specificity as well as likelihood ratios were additionally calculated. To determine inter-rater reliability, transcriptions, pattern analyses and subgrouping were compared across raters. RESULTS: Overall, diagnostic validity of the picture-naming test of LogoFoVa was good as differentiation between TD children and children with suspected SSD as well as amongst subgroups of SSD (articulation impairment, phonological delay and atypical speech development) was possible. However, accuracy of differentiation between TD children and children with SSD was affected by the cut-off criterion applied. Inter-rater reliability was found to be almost perfect for transcription and moderate for identification of phonological processes as well as for subgrouping. Again, agreement rates depended on the cut-off criterion chosen for the definition of a phonological pattern. CONCLUSION: LogoFoVa was found to be a reliable and valid clinical tool for the identification and subgrouping of children with SSD in Danish SLP practice if a new cut-off criterion was applied.

Canonical Babbling: A Marker for Earlier Identification of Late Detected Developmental Disorders?

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: To summarize findings about the emergence and characteristics of canonical babbling in children with late detected developmental disorders (LDDDs), such as autism spectrum disorder, Rett syndrome, and fragile X syndrome. In particular, we ask whether infants' vocal development in the first year of life contains any markers that may contribute to earlier detection of these disorders. RECENT FINDINGS: Only a handful studies have investigated canonical babbling in infants with LDDDs. With divergent research paradigms and definitions applied, findings on the onset and characteristics of canonical babbling are inconsistent and difficult to compare. Infants with LDDDs showed reduced likelihood to produce canonical babbling vocalizations. If achieved, this milestone was more likely to be reached beyond the critical time window of 5-10 months. SUMMARY: Canonical babbling appears promising as a potential marker for early detection of infants at risk for developmental disorders. In-depth studies on babbling characteristics in LDDDs are warranted.

Development of a test battery for assessing phonological awareness in German-speaking children.

The development of phonological awareness (PA), the ability to reflect on the sound structure of words independent of their meaning, has been extensively explored in English-speaking children. However, this is not the case for other languages. The aim of this study was to develop a comprehensive PA test battery for German-speaking preschool children, considering psycholinguistic, linguistic, and cognitive aspects and to carry out analyses of its psychometric properties. Cross-sectional data from a sample of 55 children (CA 4;0-6;11 years) were collected. Preliminary findings confirm validity and reliability of the test battery, and support previous findings that PA develops from larger to smaller linguistic units. Phoneme-level tasks were consistently associated with letter knowledge. The new instrument is a promising tool for basic research (e.g. cross-linguistic comparisons of PA development) as well as for clinical and educational practice (e.g. planning speech and language therapy or literacy-oriented intervention).