[Validity criteria of a short test to assess speech and language competence in 4-year-olds].

Background: A psychometrically constructed short test as a prerequisite for screening was developed on the basis of a revision of the Marburger Speech Screening to assess speech/language competence among children in Hessen (Germany).

Participants And Methods: A total of 257 children (age 4.0 to 4.5 years) performed the test battery for speech/language competence; 214 children repeated the test 1 year later.

Results: Test scores correlated highly with scores of two competing language screenings (SSV, HASE) and with a combined score from four diagnostic tests of individual speech/language competences (Reynell III, patholinguistic diagnostics in impaired language development, PLAKSS, AWST-R). Validity was demonstrated by three comparisons: (1) Children with German family language had higher scores than children with another language. (2) The 3-month-older children achieved higher scores than younger children. (3) The difference between the children with German family language and those with another language was higher for the 3-month-older than for the younger children.

Conclusion: The short test assesses the speech/language competence of 4-year-olds quickly, validly, and comprehensively.