Abstract

GURGEL, Léia Gonçalves; PLENTZ, Rodrigo Della Méa; JOLY, Maria Cristina Rodrigues Azevedo  and  REPPOLD, Caroline Tozzi. Instruments for assessing understanding of oral language in children and adolescents: a systematic review of the literature. Neuropsicologia Latinoamericana [online]. 2010, vol.2, n.1, pp. 1-10. ISSN 2075-9479.

Language is a conventional system of arbitrary symbols that are combined in a systematic way to store and exchange information. Understanding can be defined as the skill that involves what the child recalls about the communication made or applies from the information heard. This study systematically reviews the literature for the main instruments used in randomized studies to evaluate children's comprehension of oral language. The search strategy included MEDLINE, LILACS, PsycINFO and Cochrane Library databases, and randomized controlled trials comparing authors who used instruments to assess oral comprehension in children. The search retrieved 899 articles, from which 7 studies were included. The instruments used in these articles were: Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test, Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test-Revised (PPVT-R), Swedish Communication Screening at 18 months of age (SCS18), Test for Reception of Grammar - 2 (TROG-2), Reynell Test, Reynell Development Language Scales and Reynell Developmental Language Scales-II. There are few instruments available for oral language comprehension assessment. Most of them are intended to assess receptive vocabulary and many of these instruments have not been submitted to validity studies. Moreover, it is suggested that systematic reviews and more randomized controlled trials are promoted with samples of adolescents.

Keywords : Comprehension; Child language; Randomized controlled trial; Language comprehension tests.

        · abstract in Spanish | French | Portuguese     · text in Portuguese     · Portuguese ( pdf )