The Accuracy and Efficiency of the Speech Language Early Literacy Screening Checklist

Abstract

Objectives: This study aimed to develop the “Speech Language Early Literacy Screening Checklist” in order to identify speech, language, and early literacy difficulties in children aged 5-6 years before entering elementary school. This study examined the reliability, validity, sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, and negative predictive value to verify the accuracy and efficiency of the checklist as a screening tool.Methods: Out of the 2,880 children who participated in the initial screening test, 155 underwent diagnostic deep tests. A total of 110 children who exhibited difficulties in language, speech, and early literacy areas were classified as the high-risk group, while those who demonstrated appropriate development in all areas were classified as the general group.Results: The Cronbach’s α value for all checklist items was .884. The content validity index rated by six language development experts was 0.70 or higher for all 36 items, with an average content validity score of 0.91. Clinical validity was confirmed through the total score differences between the general and high-risk groups classified by the diagnostic deep tests. The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve results for the screening checklist showed an area under the curve (AUC) of 0.858, sensitivity of 84.4%, and specificity of 76.4%. The positive predictive value (PPV) calculated from the cut-off score was 92.3%.Conclusion: The “Speech Language Early Literacy Screening Checklist” developed to identify children at high risk of language development delays before school entry has shown appropriate reliability, validity, and classification accuracy. This study suggests that the implementation of this checklist will contribute to preventing school failure by effectively identifying at-risk children aged 5-6.