Development of the language subtest in a developmental assessment scale to identify Chinese preschool children with special needs.
A new Cantonese parent-report language sub-test gives BCBAs a quick, psychometrically sound way to spot language delays in preschoolers.
01Research in Context
What this study did
The team built a Cantonese language sub-test for the Hong Kong Preschool Developmental Assessment Scale.
They wrote 106 short items that parents answer about their child’s talking and listening.
Kids were already going to preschool or special-ed centers, so the sample matched real clinics.
What they found
The new sub-test scores lined up well with age and with special-ed status.
Rasch checks showed the items worked as one ruler and no questions were misfits.
How this fits with other research
Leung et al. (2013) did the same Rasch work on the PDAS cognitive sub-test and also got clean age splits, so the whole PDAS family looks solid.
Wuang et al. (2010) used Rasch to shorten the HVOT for Chinese kids with Down syndrome; the same math now helps flag language delays in preschoolers.
Neely et al. (2015) showed the Korean CBCL can screen for ASD with 80 % sensitivity; M-Y et al. give you a matching language screen so you can run both sides of the check-up.
Why it matters
If you serve Cantonese-speaking preschoolers you now have a free, 15-minute parent form that spots language risk before kindergarten. Pair it with the PDAS cognitive sub-test or the Korean CBCL ASD scale to get a full early-childhood screen without buying new kits.
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Join Free →Print the 106-item PDAS language form, give it to the next Cantonese-speaking parent while they wait, and use the age-based cut-offs to decide if a speech referral is needed.
02At a glance
03Original abstract
This study reports on the development of the language subtest in the Preschool Developmental Assessment Scale (PDAS) for Cantonese-Chinese speaking children. A pilot pool of 158 items covering the two language modalities and the three language domains was developed. This initial item set was subsequently revised based on Rasch analyses of data from 324 multi-stage randomly selected children between 3 and 6 years of age. The revised 106-item set demonstrated adequate measurement properties, including targeting and uni-dimensionality. The revised 106-item set successfully discriminated preschool children in the three age groups, and between preschool children and their age peers with special education needs (SEN). Results from this study support the collection of normative data from a larger population sample of children to examine its accuracy in identifying language impairment in children with SEN. Test development procedures reported in this study provide insight for the development of language subtests in multi-domain developmental assessment tools for children speaking other varieties of Chinese.
Research in developmental disabilities, 2011 · doi:10.1016/j.ridd.2010.10.004