Validity and Reliability of the European-Portuguese Preschool Language Assessment ALPE

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Objective: This paper investigates the effectiveness of the Language Intervention Programme for the treatment of 14 preschool-aged children with primary language impairment. Patients and Methods: We used a waiting list control design, in which half the sample (7 children) received immediate intervention with the Language Intervention Programme, whereas the remaining children received treatment after a 4-week delay. The intervention consisted of 8 individual biweekly sessions. Outcome measures of language ability (receptive semantic and morphosyntactic, expressive semantic and morphosyntactic, and metalinguistic) were taken before and after intervention. Results: After 4 weeks of intervention, the experimental group showed significant improvements in language (receptive, expressive and metalinguistic skills), but no differences were found for those in the waiting control group. After 4 weeks of intervention for the control group, significant progress in language was also observed. Conclusion: The Language Intervention Programme was found to be effective in treating language skills of children with language impairment, providing clinical evidence for speech and language therapists to employ this programme for the treatment of preschool children with language disorders.

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This test was used since it is the only one available to assess receptive, expressive and metalinguistic skills in European Portuguese preschool-aged children. Also, this test is considered a reliable and valid assessment for Portuguese children [15]. …”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Effectiveness of the Language Intervention Programme for Preschool Children

Lousada

Ramalho²,

Marques³

2016

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“…The Language Test - Preschool Language Assessment (TL-ALPE) [35,36], a valid instrument that has been standardized for EP children, was used to assess MSs in the domains of semantic, structural, and phonological awareness. Accordingly, from all tasks included in this test, only the results of the metalinguistic tasks are reported and analyzed in this paper.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Influence of Demographic Variables on Metalinguistic Skills

Cadório

Lousada²

2015

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Background/Aims: The existing literature reports no clear patterns for the influence of extralinguistic variables on MSs because they vary across languages. Therefore, the current study addresses this issue by analyzing the development of MSs at the beginning of formal schooling and by determining the extent to which demographic variables affect metalinguistic development in normally developing European-Portuguese (EP) children. Methods: The sample included 80 EP first graders aged 6;00-6;11 years who presented a normal linguistic development. The Language Test - Preschool Language Assessment (TL-ALPE) was used to assess MSs in the domains of semantic, structural, and phonological awareness. Results: At the beginning of formal schooling, only one phonological awareness task involving syllables was considered to be acquired and established among all metalinguistic tasks elicited. Significant group differences were not found for the demographic variables of gender, socioeconomic status, and ecological setting. Conclusion: These findings contribute to the increasing literature on MSs. The reference information provided is important for accurately identifying school-aged children with language impairment.

“…Morphosyntactic skills were assessed using the Language Test - Preschool Language Assessment (TL-ALPE), a valid instrument [34,35] standardized for children aged between 3 years and 5 years and 11 months. Although children have been assessed in the domains of semantics, morphosyntax and phonology, only the morphosyntax section was analyzed and reported in this study.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessment of Morphosyntactic Development in European Portuguese-Speaking Children

Cadório¹,

Lousada²,

Aparici³

et al. 2014

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Objective: Studies on the late acquisition of morphosyntax in European Portuguese (EP)-speaking children are relatively scarce in the literature. The purpose of this paper is to report data on the morphosyntactic domain from typically developing children. The present investigation focused on differences in morphosyntactic performance according to specific demographic variables (e.g., gender, age, ecological setting, and socioeconomic background). Patients and Methods: Eighty EP-speaking children aged between 6 years and 6 years and 11 months were assessed with the Language Test - Preschool Language Assessment (TL-ALPE). Results: Within the age range considered, some receptive and productive competencies were acquired. Significant differences were found for gender and age. Conclusion: These outcomes contribute to the knowledge of late developmental processes in the morphosyntactic domain, in EP-speaking children, presenting well-established performance standards. The provided reference information is fundamental to accurately identify children with language impairment and to construct new valid assessment instruments.