title: Speech and Language Disorders in Kenyan Children: Adapting Tools For Regions With Few Assessment Resources.
abstract: This study sought to adapt a battery of Western speech and language assessment tools to a rural Kenyan setting. The tool was developed for children whose first language was KiGiryama, a Bantu language. A total of 539 Kenyan children (males=271, females=268, ethnicity=100% Kigiryama. Data were collected from 303 children admitted to hospital with severe malaria and 206 age-matched children recruited from the village communities. The language assessments were based upon the Content, Form and Use (C/F/U) model. The assessment was based upon the adapted versions of the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test, Test for the Reception of Grammar, Renfrew Action Picture Test, Pragmatics Profile of Everyday Communication Skills in Children, Test of Word Finding and language specific tests of lexical semantics, higher level language. Preliminary measures of construct validity suggested that the theoretical assumptions behind the construction of the assessments were appropriate and re-test and inter-rater reliability scores were acceptable. These findings illustrate the potential to adapt Western speech and language assessments in other languages and settings, particularly those in which there is a paucity of standardised tools.
authors.affiliation: The Centre for Geographic Medicine Research (Coast), Kenya Medical Research Institute Centre for International Health and Development, Institute of Child Health.
authors.forename: Julie Anne
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Carter
authors.forename: Grace
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Murira
authors.forename: Joseph
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Gona
authors.forename: Judy
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Tumaini
authors.forename: Janet
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Lees
authors.forename: Brian George
authors.initials: BG
authors.lastname: Neville
authors.forename: Charles Richard
authors.initials: CR
authors.lastname: Newton
keywords: Assessment; Child; Kenya