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Abstract Introduction This research examined the classification accuracy of the Quick Interactive Language Screener (QUILS) for identifying preschool-aged children (3;0 to 6;9) with developmental language disorder (DLD). We present data from two independent samples that varied in prevalence and diagnostic reference standard. Methods Study 1 included a clinical sample of children (54 with DLD; 13 without) who completed the QUILS and a standardized assessment of expressive grammar (Syntax subtest from the Diagnostic Evaluation of Language Variation–Norm Referenced; Structured Photographic Expressive Language Test–Preschool 2nd Edition; or Structured Photographic Expressive Language Test–3 rd Edition). Study 2 included a community sample of children (25 with DLD; 101 without) who completed the QUILS and the Auditory Comprehension subtest of the Preschool Language Scales–5th Edition (PLS-5; Zimmerman et al., 2011). Discriminant analyses were conducted to compare classification accuracy (i.e., sensitivity and specificity) using the normreferenced cut score (< 25th percentile) with empirically derived cut scores. Results In Study 1, the QUILS led to low fail rates (i.e., high specificity) in children without impairment and statistically significant group differences as a function of children's clinical status; however, only 65% of children with DLD were accurately identified using the norm-referenced cutoff. In Study 2, 76% of children with DLD were accurately identified at the 25th percentile cutoff and accuracy improved to 84% when an empirically derived cutoff (<32nd percentile) was applied. Conclusions Findings support the clinical application of the QUILS as a component of the screening process for identifying the presence or absence of DLD in community samples of preschool-aged children.
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Capturing math language use during block play: Creation of the spatial and quantitative mathematical language coding system
The goals of the current study were: 1) to modify and expand an existing spatial mathematical language coding system to include quantitative mathematical language terms and 2) to examine the extent to which preschool-aged children used spatial and quantitative mathematical language during a block play intervention. Participants included 24 preschool-aged children (Age M = 57.35 months) who were assigned to a block play intervention. Children participated in up to 14 sessions of 15-to-20-minute block play across seven weeks. Results demonstrated that spatial mathematical language terms were used with a higher raw frequency than quantitative mathematical language terms during the intervention sessions. However, once weighted frequencies were calculated to account for the number of codes in each category, spatial language was only used slightly more than quantitative language during block play. Similar patterns emerged between domains within the spatial and quantitative language categories. These findings suggest that both quantitative and spatial mathematical language usage should be evaluated when considering whether child activities can improve mathematical learning and spatial performance. Further, accounting for the number of codes within categories provided a more representative presentation of how mathematical language was used versus solely utilizing raw word counts. Implications for future research are discussed.
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- Award ID(s):
- 2309657
- PAR ID:
- 10533160
- Publisher / Repository:
- Psych Open
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Journal of Numerical Cognition
- Volume:
- 10
- ISSN:
- 2363-8761
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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Accepted Manuscript1.0
- Journal Article:
- https://doi.org/10.5964/jnc.11589
