[Validity criteria of a short test to assess speech and language competence in 4-year-olds].
BACKGROUND
A psychometrically constructed short test as a prerequisite for screening was developed on the basis of a revision of the Marburger Speech Screening to assess speech/language competence among children in Hessen (Germany).


METHODS
A total of 257 children (age 4.0 to 4.5 years) performed the test battery for speech/language competence; 214 children repeated the test 1 year later.


RESULTS
Test scores correlated highly with scores of two competing language screenings (SSV, HASE) and with a combined score from four diagnostic tests of individual speech/language competences (Reynell III, patholinguistic diagnostics in impaired language development, PLAKSS, AWST-R). Validity was demonstrated by three comparisons: (1) Children with German family language had higher scores than children with another language. (2) The 3-month-older children achieved higher scores than younger children. (3) The difference between the children with German family language and those with another language was higher for the 3-month-older than for the younger children.


CONCLUSIONS
The short test assesses the speech/language competence of 4-year-olds quickly, validly, and comprehensively.
Institut für Psychologie, Fachbereich Wirtschaftswissenschaften, Universität Kassel, Holländische Straße 36-38, 34127, Kassel, Deutschland. euler@uni-kassel.de
H A
HA
Euler
I
I
Holler-Zittlau
S
S
Minnen
U
U
Sick
W
W
Dux
Y
Y
Zaretsky
K
K
Neumann
D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007806:Language Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis*; D007807:Language Tests; D008297:Male; D008403:Mass Screening / Q000379:methods*; D011594:Psychometrics / Q000379:methods*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity