The language use Inventory-Persian: report of the psychometric properties

Area of Science:

• Linguistics
• Developmental Psychology
• Clinical Psychology

Background:

• Pragmatic language assessment is crucial for identifying language impairments in children.
• Parent-report questionnaires are valuable tools for evaluating real-world pragmatic abilities.
• This study focused on adapting the Language Use Inventory (LUI) for Persian-speaking children.

Purpose of the Study:

• To translate and culturally adapt the Language Use Inventory (LUI) into Persian.
• To evaluate the psychometric properties of the Persian version of the LUI.
• To establish the validity and reliability of the LUI-Persian for assessing pragmatic language skills.

Main Methods:

• A methodological, cross-sectional study involving translation and adaptation of the LUI.
• 348 parents/caregivers of typically developing, late-talking, and autism spectrum disorder (ASD) children (18-47 months) completed the LUI-Persian.
• Psychometric properties including item analysis, validity (content, face, construct), and reliability (test-retest, internal consistency) were assessed.

Main Results:

• Item analysis resulted in the deletion of 7 items; the final LUI-Persian has 173 items.
• The LUI-Persian showed significant differential validity across age groups and clinical groups (TD, ASD, late-talking).
• High internal consistency (α=0.99) and test-retest reliability (r=0.97) were confirmed, along with construct validity indicating two factors (verbal and nonverbal language use).

Conclusions:

• The LUI-Persian is a psychometrically sound instrument for assessing pragmatic language in 18-47-month-old Persian-speaking children.
• The study confirmed the validity and reliability of the adapted LUI for pragmatic language evaluation.
• Further research with larger clinical populations is recommended to refine the LUI for screening pragmatic impairments.