LittlEARS(®) early speech production questionnaire validation in hearing Turkish infants.

Aim: The LEESPQ validated on hearing, German infants is a standardized tool examining preverbal speech development. This study aims to validate the LEESPQ on hearing, Turkish infants.

Materials And Methods: This is a prospective, cross-sectional validation study using the LEESPQ in Turkish. The LEESPQ was filled in once for each hearing infant. Data for ≥10 infants was collected at 19 test intervals, ≥ 0-1, ≥ 1-2……, ≥18-19 months. Psychometric validation was performed through confirmatory factor analysis, item response analysis, item analysis, and analysis of reliability and validity.

Results: The LEESPQ was found to be gender independent, have high predictive accuracy and almost exclusively assess speech production ability. A very high correlation between total score and chronological age means score can be interpreted as child's speech production developmental age. Expected and minimum scores were defined for each monthly interval.

Conclusion: The LEESPQ (Turkish) has clinical value to confirm typical speech production development and detect potential problems.