Developmental Stuttering Screening Instrument: development and content validation

Abstract

Purpose: to develop a screening instrument to identify the risk of developmental stuttering in preschoolers. Methods: the procedures were divided into two stages: The first one (theoretical), consisted of the literature review and the construction of the items that make up the instrument; the second stage (content validation), consisted of the analysis of the instrument by a judging committee formed by 10 speech-language-hearing therapists who work in the field of fluency. The data analysis was based on the calculation of the item content validity index (I-CVI) and the total number of answers (T-CVI). Also, an item reliability analysis was conducted with Cronbach’s alpha. Results: the Developmental Stuttering Screening Instrument (DSSI) encompassed 24 items distributed into four key categories. The I-CVI and T-CVI revealed a high agreement between the judges. The Cronbach’s alpha coefficients indicated a high internal consistency between the judges’ answers in 19 of the 24 items. The qualitative analysis pointed to the need for new adjustments. All the analyses contributed to the construction of the second version of the instrument. Conclusion: the proposed instrument showed content-based validity evidence that made it possible, up to the present moment, to adjust it to its construct. It is suggested that the validation process continue, employing new accuracy measures.

Development and validation of children’s stories as a health education strategy in speech, language, and hearing sciences

“…Regarding the five domains analyzed, "content", "vocabulary" and "motivation" were the ones that received suggestions for improvement by the judges. According to the literature (19) , content and vocabulary are the domains that most have changed in the validation of educational materials.…”

“…Modifying vocabulary implies excluding, adding, and/or replacing words and reformulating sentences (19) . In the present study, the vocabulary was adapted to the children's audience in the stories, aiming at facilitating the reader's understanding of the content (20) .…”

Developmental Stuttering Screening Instrument: evidence of sensitivity and accuracy measures

“…The DSSI 12 is a screening instrument aimed at identifying risks of developmental stuttering in preschoolers aged 2 years to 5 years and 11 months, based on the perceptions of the adults responsible for them regarding the child's speech fluency status. It was developed to be used by trained health and education professionals, making possible the early identification of the disorder.…”

“…The risk factors for the disorder need to be investigated in children under six years old to know whether they might be acquiring developmental stuttering. The Developmental Stuttering Screening Instrument (DSSI) was developed to further the early identification of preschool children at risk of stuttering 12 . The DSSI was developed to be used with parents and/or guardians by trained health and education professionals who work with children 2 years to 5 years and 11 months old.…”

“…It is a concise set of 24 questions related to risk factors for stuttering, encompassing the children's overall and communication development and linguistic, motor, and psychosocial aspects related to speech fluency. The instrument has already been analyzed in detail by specialists in the field and gave evidence of content validity and internal consistency 12 .…”