title: Index of productive syntax for children who speak African American English.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The validity of the Index of Productive Syntax (IPSyn; Scarborough, 1990) for children who speak African American English (AAE) was evaluated by conducting an item analysis and a comparison of the children's scores as a function of their maternal education level, nonmainstream dialect density, age, and clinical status.
  
  
  METHODS
  The data were language samples from 62 children; 52 of the children were between the ages of 4 and 6 years and were classified as developing typically, and 10 were 6 years old with specific language impairment (SLI).
  
  
  RESULTS
  All IPSyn items were produced by at least 1 child, and 88% of the items were produced by 50% or more of the children. The children's IPSyn scores were unrelated to maternal education level and dialect density and were visually comparable to IPSyn scores reported for children who speak mainstream English. Nevertheless, IPSyn could not be used to detect differences between the 4- to 6-year-olds based on age, nor could it be used to detect differences between the 6-year-olds with and without SLI.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  IPSyn is a valid measure for AAE speakers, but it can be insensitive to age and clinical differences between children who are over the age of 48 months.
authors.affiliation: Department of Communication Sciences & Disorders, 64 Hatcher Hall, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA 70803, USA. cdjanna@lsu.edu
authors.forename: Janna B
authors.initials: JB
authors.lastname: Oetting
authors.forename: Brandi L
authors.initials: BL
authors.lastname: Newkirk
authors.forename: Lekeitha R
authors.initials: LR
authors.lastname: Hartfield
authors.forename: Christy G
authors.initials: CG
authors.lastname: Wynn
authors.forename: Sonja L
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: Pruitt
authors.forename: April W
authors.initials: AW
authors.lastname: Garrity
mesh_terms: D001741:Black or African American / Q000523:psychology*; D000375:Aging; D002648:Child; D002663:Child Language; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004522:Educational Status; D006801:Humans; D007805:Language Development Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology; D007807:Language Tests; D008037:Linguistics; D011578:Psycholinguistics; D015203:Reproducibility of Results