title: CDC Kerala 6: Validation of Language Evaluation Scale Trivandrum (0-3 y) against Receptive Expressive Emergent Language Scale in a developmental evaluation clinic population.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To validate Language Evaluation Scale Trivandrum (LEST) 0-3 y against the reference standard, Receptive Expressive Emergent Language Scale (REELS) in a population of children attending CDC developmental evaluation clinic 0-3 y.
  
  
  METHODS
  All the children clinically diagnosed as having speech and language problem in the developmental evaluation clinic of CDC Kerala over a period of 3 y were assessed using LEST (0-3) by trained developmental therapist and REELS by a speech therapist, both blind to the results of each other.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Out of a total of 761 children between 0-3 y diagnosed as having speech problems by a Developmental Pediatrician in the developmental evaluation clinic (0-3 y) of CDC Kerala, both LEST and REELS could be administered among 679 children. The screening tool LEST 0-3 had a high sensitivity (84.4%), specificity (80.3%), Positive Predictive Value (PPV) (91.5%), Negative Predictive Value (NPV) (67.1%) and accuracy (83.2%) against the reference standard REELS.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The observation of this study that LEST 0-3 had a high sensitivity, specificity and accuracy against REELS, suggest that in a developmental/speech evaluation clinic LEST could be effectively used in resource poor settings.
authors.affiliation: Child Development Centre, Thiruvananthapuram Medical College, Thiruvananthapuram, 695011, Kerala, India, cdcmkc@gmail.com.
authors.forename: M K C
authors.initials: MK
authors.lastname: Nair
authors.forename: A O
authors.initials: AO
authors.lastname: Mini
authors.forename: Deepa
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Bhaskaran
authors.forename: G S
authors.initials: GS
authors.lastname: Harikumaran Nair
authors.forename: Babu
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: George
authors.forename: M L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Leena
authors.forename: Paul Swamidhas Sudhakar
authors.initials: PS
authors.lastname: Russell
mesh_terms: D002675:Child, Preschool; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007805:Language Development Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis*; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity
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