Five minute test evaluates language competence of … – publico

                 

                         
                     

                 

 
                         

Marisa Lousada and Ana Rita Valente, researchers at the University of Aveiro (UA) along with Ana Mendes, researcher and lecturer at the Polytechnic Institute of Setubal (IPS), created an instrument that in about five minutes, allows professionals health or education, and even family members, identify whether children have, or not, acquired the language skills and speech appropriate to their age group.

                     

                          The instrument, which has the support of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, called Language and Speech Screening (RALF) and is the only child friendly that have the Portuguese-European mother tongue. It is a “quick assessment tool”, consisting of a “set of ten to twelve issues”, aimed at different age groups – from three to four years, from four to five and the five the six -. that contains indicators of speech skills, language or meta

The test is performed by professional issues put to working with children, or parents, and also subsequently, to children who are being tracked. Associated with each simple question are concrete examples. For example, “if you ask the child to identify where the apple, or it will not point to where is the apple,” said the PUBLIC Marisa Lousada.

Screening consists of a manual and a recording sheet, Rita Valente points. At the end the result is calculated depending on the child’s performance. If the child does not achieve the result that correspond to the skills of language and speech appropriate to their age group , will then be advised parents to monitor the child for a speech therapist .

“The performance in terms of prevention enables identification of disorders in early stage avoiding school failure, in that a large percentage of children with disorder in learning to read previously lodged a disorder of oral language, “says the researcher of the UA.

” The great asset of this instrument is to allow the realization of a language screening and speech form quick to help health and education professionals to see if your child has acquired the language skills and speech fundamental for their age, “explains Marisa Lousada, of the speech therapists who developed the RALF.

The RALF was built on normative linguistic data. Its validity and reliability was analyzed, it was concluded that it is valid, reliable, sensitive and specific, constituting an added value for early identification of children with language changes and / or speech.
Text edited by Andrea Cunha Freitas