Finite Verb Morphology Composite Between Age 4 and Age 9 for the Edmonton Narrative Norms Instrument: Reference Data...

Area of Science:

• Linguistic Development
• Child Language Acquisition
• Psychometrics in Speech-Language Pathology

Background:

• Accurate assessment of language development is crucial for identifying children with language impairments (LI).
• The finite verb morphology composite (FVMC) is a measure used to evaluate grammatical skills in children.
• Normative data and psychometric validation are essential for the reliable application of clinical tools like FVMC.

Purpose of the Study:

• To establish reference data for the FVMC in children aged 4 to 9 years.
• To evaluate the psychometric properties, including reliability and validity, of the FVMC.
• To assess the diagnostic accuracy of the FVMC for identifying language impairment in young children.

Main Methods:

• Utilized data from 377 children (ages 4-9), including 300 with typical language and 77 with language impairment (LI).
• Collected narrative language samples via a story generation task.
• Calculated FVMC scores and analyzed split-half reliability, concurrent criterion validity, and diagnostic accuracy.

Main Results:

• FVMC performance significantly increased with age in both typical and LI groups (ages 4-9).
• FVMC demonstrated medium to large reliability and validity coefficients (r ≥ .429) across age levels.
• Diagnostic accuracy was good to acceptable for ages 4-7 but declined significantly at ages 8-9.

Conclusions:

• The FVMC is a psychometrically sound tool for identifying language impairment in children aged 4 to 7.
• Reference data from this study support the use of FVMC for clinical assessment and monitoring treatment progress.
• The findings highlight age-related considerations for the diagnostic application of FVMC.