Index of productive syntax for children who speak African American English.
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.
Oetting
Janna B
JB
Department of Communication Sciences & Disorders, 64 Hatcher Hall, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA 70803, USA. cdjanna@lsu.edu
Newkirk
Brandi L
BL
Hartfield
Lekeitha R
LR
Wynn
Christy G
CG
Pruitt
Sonja L
SL
Garrity
April W
AW
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