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Lookup NU author(s): Professor Lindsay PenningtonORCiD, Emerita Professor Elaine McCollORCiD
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).
Background: Current UK measures of early spoken language comprehension require manipulation of toys and/or verbal response and are not accessible to children with severe motor impairments. The Computer-Based instrument for Low motor Language Testing C-BiLLT, (originally validated in Dutch) is a computerised test of spoken language comprehension that children with motor disorders control using their usual response methods. Aims To create a UK version of the C-BiLLT, evaluate its validity and reliability; and assess its practicability for children with motor disorders. Methods & Procedures: The C-BiLLT was translated into British English and items adapted to ensure familiarity to UK children. 424 children (233 females, 191 males) aged 1:6 – 7:5 (years:months) without developmental disabilities were recruited from North East England. Children completed the UK C-BiLLT and Pre-School Language Scales 5 (PLS-5) for convergent validity evaluation and either the visual reception subtest of the Mullen Scales of Early Learning (MSEL) (children aged 1:8-5:5) or Ravens Coloured Progressive Matrices (CPM) (ages 5:6-7:5) to assess divergent validity. Thirty-three children completed the UK C-BiLLT within 4 weeks of initial assessment for test-retest reliability assessment (Intra-class correlation co-efficient, (ICC)). Internal consistency was assessed using Cronbach’s alpha and exploratory factor analysis examined structural validity. Twenty-four children (10 female, 14 male; aged 4-12 years) with nonprogressive motor disorders who use augmentative and alternative communication, rated the UK C-BiLLT’s ease of use and completed British Picture Vocabulary Scales (BPVS) and CPM as for convergent and divergent validity testing. Outcomes & Results For children without motor disorders internal consistency was high (α = 0.96). Exploratory factor analysis extracted two factors, together explaining 68% of total variance. Test-retest reliability was excellent (ICC = 0.95; 0.90 – 0.98 95%CI). UK C-BiLLT scores correlated highly with PLS-5 (r=0.91) and MSEL (r=0.81), and moderately with CPM (r=0.41); and increased across full year age bands (F(6, 407) = 341.76, p = <0.001, η2 = 0.83). Nineteen children with motor disorders rated the UK C-BiLLT as easy / ok to use; two judged it hard; three declined to rate ease of use. Their UK C-BiLLT scores correlated highly with BPVS (r = 0.77) and moderately with CPM (r = 0.57). Conclusions & Implications: The UK C-BiLLT is a valid, reliable measure of early spoken language development and potentially practicable for children with motor disorders. It may facilitate international research on language development of children with motor disorders and evaluation of intervention at national level.
Author(s): Pennington L, Potts L, Murray J, Geytenbeek J, Clarke M, Laws K, Sargent J, Swettenham J, Lachkovic J, Martin C, McColl E
Publication type: Article
Publication status: Published
Journal: Internal Journal of Language and Communication Disorders
Year: 2025
Volume: 60
Issue: 2
Online publication date: 18/03/2025
Acceptance date: 04/02/2025
Date deposited: 06/02/2025
ISSN (print): 1368-2822
ISSN (electronic): 1460-6984
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons Ltd
URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/1460-6984.70025
DOI: 10.1111/1460-6984.70025
Data Access Statement: Data collected from children without motor disorders are available at https://doi.org/10.25405/data.ncl.27194901. Data collected from children with motor disorders are not available to prevent identification of participants.
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