A Review of Screeners to Identify Risk of Developmental Language Disorder
American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology
Bao, X., Komesidou, R., et al. (2024).
American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1044/2023_ajslp-23-00286.
This systematic review investigates the diagnostic accuracy of screening tools used to identify children, 21 years or younger, at risk for developmental language disorder (DLD).
Massachusetts General Hospital Institute of Health Professions
Included screening tools published from 2001 to 2021
Full manuals of commercially available DLD screening tools
15 screening tool manuals
The authors identified 15 screening tools for identifying children at risk for DLD. Of the eleven tools that provided normative data for the DLD population, three received the best ratings in accessibility, usability, and psychometrics. Specific psychometric properties of these tools included the following: <br />
<ul>
<li><span style="color: #333333;"><strong>The Clinical Evaluation of Language Fundamentals, 5th Edition (CELF-5) Screening Test</strong> demonstrated excellent sensitivity (0.90) and acceptable specificity (0.87) using a sample of children aged 5 years to 8 years, 11 months old. Overall, the CELF-5 is designed for children aged 5 to 21 years, 11 months. </span></li>
<li><span style="color: #333333;"><strong>The Student Language Scale Screener for Language and Literacy Disorders (SLS)</strong> demonstrated excellent sensitivity (0.92) and specificity (0.90) based on children aged 9 years to 9 years, 11 months. Overall, the SLS is designed for children aged 6 years to 18 years, 11 months. </span></li>
<li><span style="color: #333333;"><strong>The Preschool Language Scales, 5th Edition (PLS-5) Screening Test</strong> demonstrated acceptable sensitivity (0.83) and specificity (0.84) based on a group of children with language disorders. The PLS-5 is designed to be used with children from birth to 7 years, 11 months.</span></li>
</ul>
For additional normative data on these and other screening tools for DLD, see Table 6 on page 17 of the full text. <br /><br /><span style="color: #333333;"><span style="color: #333333;">Despite mixed, or a lack of, psychometrics across the majority of screening tools, the authors note that many other screeners (e.g., the Quick Interactive Language Screener, Narrative Language Measures, Language Use Inventory) offer clinically valuable features such as adaptability to diverse linguistic backgrounds, progress monitoring capabilities, actionable follow-up instructions, and online administration. The authors highlight that considering such features may help clinicians select an appropriate DLD screening tool based on different client characteristics and contexts. <br /></span></span>
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<span style="color: #333333;">Limitations to this review include the exclusion of non-commercial DLD screening tools and a limited investigation of diagnostic accuracy. Additional, high-quality research investigating screening tool psychometrics is indicated.</span>
