Ana Rita S. Valente

Standardization of a phonetic-phonological test for European-Portuguese children.

Objective: To develop and standardize a phonetic-phonological test (Teste Fonético-Fonológico-Avaliação da Linguagem Pré-Escolar, TFF-ALPE) for the assessment of European-Portuguese (EP) children’s articulation and phonological abilities. Patients and Methods: In order to standardize TFF-ALPE, 768 children aged 3;0–6;11 participated in this study. The standardization, validity and reliability of TFF-ALPE were analyzed. Results: TFF-ALPE presents strong cohesion and has strong inter- and intrajudge reliability. There was also a strong correlation between the TFF-ALPE data and those obtained in other studies. The content validity was demonstrated by the description of the test domain and the items that comprise TFF-ALPE. Conclusion: TFF-ALPE is a valid and reliable phonetic-phonological assessment instrument that speech-language pathologists can use with EP-speaking children.

Is the Portuguese version of the passage ‘The North Wind and the Sun’ phonetically balanced?

There is no standard phonetically balanced short passage for Portuguese research and clinical practice. This paper presents results of a novel analysis of ‘The North Wind and the Sun’ (NWS) passage that aims to determine if it is phonetically balanced for European Portuguese (EP) and Brazilian Portuguese (BP), based on new transcriptions resulting from algorithms developed for grapheme–phone transcription in these two varieties of Portuguese. These algorithms (based on standard EP and Sao Paulo BP varieties) are the same as those used to collect the frequency data, which is central to determining if a text is phonetically balanced. Results showed that neither transcription violates phonotactic rules, i.e. permissible combinations of speech sounds. The NWS is not phonetically balanced for BP if the phonemes are considered individually but is evenly distributed in terms of manner of articulation. The EP version of the NWS passage is a phonetically balanced text for EP.

Validity and Reliability of the European-Portuguese Preschool Language Assessment ALPE

Background/Aims: To design and standardize the Preschool Language Test (Teste de Linguagem-Avaliação da Linguagem Pré-Escolar, TL-ALPE) which assesses European Portuguese (EP)-speaking childrens receptive and expressive language abilities. Methods: To standardize TL-ALPE, data was collected on 817 EP-speaking children aged 3 years and 0 months to 5 years and 12 months. The standardization, validity and reliability procedures of TL-ALPE followed the standard recommendations. Results: TL-ALPE presented a strong cohesion (internal consistency, >80%) and strong inter- and intrajudge reliability (>90%). The content validity was verified by the description of instrument domain and the items. The construct validity of TL-ALPE was confirmed by the proportional increase in mean score values with age for both receptive and expressive abilities. The results of concurrent validity revealed strong correlations between TL-ALPE and other EP preschool language tests for expressive and total language scores. Conclusion: TL-ALPE is a valid and reliable instrument to assess language skills of EP-speaking preschool children.

Reliability and validity evidence of the Assessment of Language Use in Social Contexts for Adults (ALUSCA)

Abstract Background: The appropriate use of language in context depends on the speaker’s pragmatic language competencies. A coding system was used to develop a specific and adult-focused self-administered questionnaire to adults who stutter and adults who do not stutter, The Assessment of Language Use in Social Contexts for Adults, with three categories: precursors, basic exchanges, and extended literal/non-literal discourse. This paper presents the content validity, item analysis, reliability coefficients and evidences of construct validity of the instrument. Methods: Content validity analysis was based on a two-stage process: first, 11 pragmatic questionnaires were assessed to identify items that probe each pragmatic competency and to create the first version of the instrument; second, items were assessed qualitatively by an expert panel composed by adults who stutter and controls, and quantitatively and qualitatively by an expert panel composed by clinicians. A pilot study was conducted with five adults who stutter and five controls to analyse items and calculate reliability. Construct validity evidences were obtained using the hypothesized relationships method and factor analysis with 28 adults who stutter and 28 controls. Results: Concerning content validity, the questionnaires assessed up to 13 pragmatic competencies. Qualitative and quantitative analysis revealed ambiguities in items construction. Disagreement between experts was solved through item modification. The pilot study showed that the instrument presented internal consistency and temporal stability. Significant differences between adults who stutter and controls and different response profiles revealed the instrument’s underlying construct. Conclusion: The instrument is reliable and presented evidences of construct validity.

Validation of a Paediatric Speech and Language Screening (RALF)

Background/Aims: This study aims to analyse psychometric characteristics of the Portuguese Paediatric Speech and Language Screening (RALF) test. Methods: 202 Portuguese children aged 3; 0–5; 11 were recruited from 4 kindergartens participating in this study. Reliability and validity (sensitivity and specificity) data were obtained and analysed. Results: Content validity, analysed by an expert panel (general practitioner, kindergarten, teacher, nurse, and speech and language pathologist) revealed that the items were representative and relevant for the content the instrument intends to measure. Sensitivity values were 95, 96, and 83% and specificity values were 85, 84, and 71% for the age groups 3; 0–3; 11, 4; 0–4; 11, and 5; 0–5; 11, respectively. Internal consistency, calculated through Cronbach’s alpha, was 0.7, 0.8, and 0.7, respectively. The inter-judge reliability (interclass correlation coefficient) was 0.951. The results ensure the content validity of RALF. Sensitivity and specificity values revealed that RALF could discriminate typical from disordered speech-language developing children. RALF also presented good internal consistency and excellent reliability. Conclusion: RALF is a reliable and valid screening instrument that health and educational professionals can use in Portuguese children to identify children who may need a speech-language diagnosis for consideration or referral to speech therapy services.