The agreement between two screening tests for language evaluation in premature and low weight children

Paulo Roberto Bezerra De Mello,Claudia De Souza Ozores Caldas,Ageo Mário Cândido Da Silva,Sandra Coenga De Souza

doi:10.1590/1806-93042016000300005

Paulo Roberto Bezerra De Mello, Claudia De Souza Ozores Caldas + Show 2 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1590/1806-93042016000300005

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Abstract

Abstract Objectives: to evaluate the agreement of the results in two screening tests on children's development - Denver II and Early Language Milestone Scale (ELM) aged two to three years old, born prematurely and with low weight. Methods: two screening instruments: Denver II and ELM were applied for the development in an observational cross-sectional descriptive study. The agreement between Denver II Test and its language sector and ELM were assessed by Kappa coefficient. Results: 77 children evaluated, 36.3% had an overall loss of the development performed by Denver II and 32.5% loss of the language by ELM. The agreement between the results of Denver II test considering all sectors versus ELM showed Kappa coefficient of 0.856 (p<0.001) and considering only the language sector of Denver II versus ELM, the Kappa coefficient was 0.886 (p<0.001). Conclusions: the developmental impairment observed in the children studied by assessing Denver II and through its language sector showed agreement with changes in the language abilities observed in ELM.

Highlights

The increase in the survival of preterm babies in recent decades has opened a challenge regarding to the follow-up of these children
The objective of this study is to evaluate the correlation between the language sector of Denver II Test and Early Language Milestone Scale (ELM) in premature children at the age range of two to three years
The language changes in Denver II test predominated, similar to the percentage of children screened positively in language by ELM

Summary

Introduction

The increase in the survival of preterm babies in recent decades has opened a challenge regarding to the follow-up of these children. Premature and low weight children are considered at risk for delay in the development especially in speech and language alterations. The language deviation can be observed in the functions of receptive and expressive hearing, visual, as well as the domain in grammar and vocabulary development are significantly low. The losses in the language sector can cause problems in learning how to read and write, risking the process of learning and leading to social and affective problems.[1,2]. Screening tests on childrens development, may be an overall development or language specifics, have as a purpose to identify children who may need a more specific diagnostic evaluation in their development.[3] The use of screening tools in the standard development compared to a clinical observation of isolated development it presents greater accuracy and is in favor of early intervention.[1] The choice of the tools will depend on the limitations and the characteristics implemented, as well as the study population and the goals to be achieved by the professional who will use them.[4]

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