IDENTIFICATION OF SPEECH-SOUND DISORDERS IN FRENCH-SPEAKING PRESCHOOLERS: THE UTILITY OF PARENT’s AND TEACHER’s CONCERNS AND THEIR CORRESPONDENCE TO STANDARDIZED ASSESSMENT

Background
Speech sound disorders (SSD) are associated with difficulties in communication, social participation, literacy, and learning. An early identification process is highly necessary to prevent these consequences in children with SSD. In this sense, parental and teacher concerns about speech sound development have already proven to be very useful measures in prior studies of English language. These measures have shown significant correspondences with standardized tests, with a higher association for parental concerns. Here, we aim to expand the evidence for the usefulness of parental and teacher concerns for the identification of SSD. We also hope to contribute to the current advances in the early diagnosis of SSD in French-speaking children.
Methods
192 French-speaking preschoolers aged from 35 to 67 months, without intellectual disability, hearing loss or multilingualism were recruited from preschools. Children were assessed directly by a standardized picture naming task in French. Parents and teachers were invited to respond “yes”, “a little” or “no” to the question, “Do you have any concerns about how your/this child talks and makes speech sounds”.
Binary (SSD/no SDD) scales were created for the purpose of Spearman correlations and sensibility and specificity analyses. Children with a score ≤-1SD on the standardized test were coded as “SSD”; when parents or teachers answered “yes” or “a little” to the question, children were coded as “SSD”. All other results were coded as “no SSD”.
Results
Results showed positive and significant correlations. Parental concern appeared as a poorly sensitive (55,4%) but specific (83,1%) measure, and teacher concern appeared as a fairly sensitive (75,7%) but specific (84,7%) measure, in comparison to the standardized test’s conclusion.
Conclusion
Teacher and parental concerns emerged as predictive measures, in comparison to a standardized task. Both types of concern appeared to be specific, but teacher’s concern was found to be more sensitive than parental concern.