Validity of an early parent-report questionnaire for language disorder in very preterm children from 2 to 10 years of age

Background: Language problems at an early age in very preterm (VP) children can have a detrimental effect on other developmental domains and often persist throughout childhood. The aim of this study was to examine the concurrent and predictive validity of an early language parent-report questionnaire for language disorder in VP children from 2 to 10 years of age. Materials and methods: In 80 VP children (<32 weeks’ gestation) without major disabilities, a parent-questionnaire and formal language assessment, both normed for the general population, were administered at 2 years corrected age (CA). Of these infants, 62 were seen for follow-up formal language assessment at age 4 and 61 were seen at age 10. Sensitivity and specificity values were calculated. Results: The Lexi-list showed acceptable concurrent validity for word production scores obtained at age 2 CA. The predictive validity was good for sentence production and acceptable for word production scores obtained at age 4, and low for language production scores obtained at age 10. A Lexi-list cut-off score of <85 (i.e., <-1 SD) was found optimal. Interpretation: A norm-referenced parent-report questionnaire is a useful, first screening tool in a neonatal follow-up. It not only detected early language disorder at age 2 CA but also proved to be a good predictor for language disorder at age 4. However, it did not predict language disorder at age 10. Formal language assessment at age 4 would therefore be recommended for children with an abnormal parent-report language score at age 2 CA.