Related Experiment Video
Updated: Dec 24, 2025
Assessing Dyslexia at Six Year of Age
Published on: May 1, 2020
Sensitivity and specificity of a low-cost screening protocol for identifying children at risk for language disorders
Daniela Cardilli Dias1, Silmara Rondon-Melo1, Daniela Regina Molini-Avejonas1
1Departamento de Fisioterapia, Fonoaudiologia e Terapia Ocupacional, Faculdade de Medicina (FMUSP), Universidade de Sao Paulo, Sao Paulo, SP, BR.
Insights
A low-cost screening test accurately identifies children at risk for language disorders. This test demonstrated high sensitivity and specificity, making it an efficient tool for early detection in young children.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric language development and diagnostics.
- Public health screening initiatives.
Background:
- Early identification of language disorders in children is crucial for timely intervention.
- Existing diagnostic tools can be resource-intensive, necessitating accessible screening methods.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of a novel, low-cost screening test for identifying children at risk of language disorders.
- To compare the screening test's performance against a standardized language assessment in a real-world setting.
Main Methods:
- A screening test, comprising questions on language development milestones, was administered to 1000 children aged 0-5 years during a vaccination campaign.
- Children who did not pass the screening were referred for a specific language assessment (ABFW) and audiological evaluation.
- Diagnostic accuracy metrics including sensitivity, specificity, and predictive values were calculated for the screening test.
Main Results:
- The screening test achieved high diagnostic accuracy with 96% overall accuracy.
- Sensitivity was 82.5% and specificity was 98.93%, indicating effective identification of children with and without language disorder risk.
- The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve was 0.907, further supporting the test's discriminative ability.
Conclusions:
- The low-cost screening test demonstrates high diagnostic efficiency for identifying children at risk of language disorders.
- This validated screening tool offers a practical approach for early detection in pediatric populations.
- The findings support the use of this screening test in primary healthcare settings to facilitate early intervention.
Objectives:
To compare the diagnostic accuracy of a low-cost screening test for identifying children at risk for language disorders with that of a specific language assessment.
Methods:
The study was conducted during a polio vaccination campaign in basic health units in western São Paulo, Brazil. The parents/guardians of 1000 children aged between 0 and 5 years were asked to answer questions of a specific screening test. The instrument consisted of a uniform set of questions about the main milestones in language development (from 0 to 5 years of age) with scaled scores to assess responses. There were no exclusion criteria. After the screening test, the children were referred to a specific language assessment by ABFW, following a determined flow of referrals. The results obtained in the screening were compared to those obtained in the specific language assessment; then, the sensitivity, specificity, accuracy, and positive and negative predictive values were determined for the screening test. Children who failed the screening test also underwent an audiological evaluation. The statistical significance was set at 5%.
Results:
The majority of the participants were aged between 4 and 5 years (21.82%) and were male (51.6%). The sensitivity and specificity values were 82.5% and 98.93%, respectively. The area under the curve was 0.907 (0.887-0.925), and the screening test showed 96% accuracy.
Conclusions:
The screening test showed high diagnostic efficiency in determining the risk of language disorders in children aged between 0 and 5 years.
