Psychometric Properties of Standardized Instruments That Are Used to Measure Pragmatic Intervention Effects in Children With Developmental Language Disorder: A Systematic Review

Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders

Pereira, T., & Lousada, M. (2023).

Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 53(5), 1764-1780.

This systematic review investigates the psychometric properties of pragmatic evaluation tools in children with developmental language disorders. 

FCT: Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (Portugal); European Regional Development Fund

2005 to 2019

Randomized controlled trials, before-and-after controlled and non-control studies, case-control studies, and case series

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The following psychometric properties were reported for pragmatic language evaluation tools in children with developmental language disorders:<br /> <ul> <li><strong>Assessment of Comprehension and Expression:</strong>&nbsp;internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha) was 0.73, concurrent validity was 0.66, and test-retest reliability was 0.83;</li> <li><strong>Clinical Evaluation of Language Fundamentals, Fourth Edition:</strong> content validity was good, internal consistency ranged from 0.69 to 0.91 for subtests and from 0.87 to 0.95 for composite scores, test-retest reliability ranged from 0.71 to 0.86 for subtests and from 0.88 to 0.92 for composite score, and inter-rater reliability for subtests ranged from 0.88 to 0.99;</li> <li><strong>Clinical Evaluation of Language Fundamentals, Third Edition:</strong> content validity was good, internal consistency ranged from 0.83 to 0.95 for standard scores and from 0.54 to 0.95 for subtests, construct validity ranged from 0.63 to 0.79, test-retest reliability ranged from 0.52 to 0.90 for subtests and from 0.80 to 0.91 for standard scores, and inter-rater reliability ranged from 0.95 to 0.99;</li> <li><strong>Children's Communication Checklist, Second Version:</strong> content validity was good, internal consistency ranged from 0.658 to 0.84 for various subscales, coefficient reliability ranged from 0.86 to 0.96, and inter-rater reliability ranged from 0.157 to 0.559 for subscales and 0.360 to 0.790 for composite scores;</li> <li><strong>Expression Reception and Recall of Narrative Instrument:</strong> internal consistency ranged from 0.75 to 0.90, test-retest reliability for the initial storytelling and recall ranged from 0.85 to 0.90;</li> <li><strong>Social Skills Rating System:</strong> internal consistency ranged from 0.83 to 0.94 for the social skills scale and from 0.73 to 0.88 for the problem behaviors scale, internal consistency for academic competence was 0.95, test-retest reliability ranged from 0.65 to 0.93; and</li> <li><strong>Test of Problem Solving, Third Edition:</strong> test-retest reliability was 0.85, and internal consistency ranged from 0.56 to 0.69 at the subtest level.&nbsp;</li> </ul> Limitations to this review include an overall paucity of research, a lack of responsiveness measures in order to determine the usefulness of these measures to track progress over time, and a lack of clear definition regarding developmental language disorders.