Reliability and validity of the Pragmatics Observational Measure (POM): a new observational measure of pragmatic language for children

Reinie Cordier; Natalie Munro; Sarah Wilkes-Gillan; Renée Speyer; Wendy M Pearce

doi:10.1016/j.ridd.2014.03.050

Reliability and validity of the Pragmatics Observational Measure (POM): a new observational measure of pragmatic language for children

Res Dev Disabil. 2014 Jul;35(7):1588-98. doi: 10.1016/j.ridd.2014.03.050. Epub 2014 Apr 24.

Authors

Reinie Cordier¹, Natalie Munro², Sarah Wilkes-Gillan², Renée Speyer³, Wendy M Pearce⁴

Affiliations

¹ Curtin University, Perth, WA, Australia; James Cook University, Townsville, QLD, Australia. Electronic address: reinie.cordier@curtin.edu.au.
² The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia.
³ James Cook University, Townsville, QLD, Australia; Department of Otorhinolaryngology and Head and Neck Surgery, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, The Netherlands.
⁴ James Cook University, Townsville, QLD, Australia.

PMID: 24769431
DOI: 10.1016/j.ridd.2014.03.050

Abstract

There is a need for a reliable and valid assessment of childhood pragmatic language skills during peer-peer interactions. This study aimed to evaluate the psychometric properties of a newly developed pragmatic assessment, the Pragmatic Observational Measure (POM). The psychometric properties of the POM were investigated from observational data of two studies - study 1 involved 342 children aged 5-11 years (108 children with ADHD; 108 typically developing playmates; 126 children in the control group), and study 2 involved 9 children with ADHD who attended a 7-week play-based intervention. The psychometric properties of the POM were determined based on the COnsensus-based Standards for the selection of health status Measurement INstruments (COSMIN) taxonomy of psychometric properties and definitions for health-related outcomes; the Pragmatic Protocol was used as the reference tool against which the POM was evaluated. The POM demonstrated sound psychometric properties in all the reliability, validity and interpretability criteria against which it was assessed. The findings showed that the POM is a reliable and valid measure of pragmatic language skills of children with ADHD between the age of 5 and 11 years and has clinical utility in identifying children with pragmatic language difficulty.

Keywords: Assessment; Instrument development; Pragmatic skills; Reliability; Validity.

Publication types

Validation Study

MeSH terms

Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity / diagnosis
Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity / therapy
Child
Child, Preschool
Communication
Female
Humans
Interpersonal Relations
Language Development Disorders / diagnosis*
Language Development Disorders / therapy
Male
Observation*
Peer Group
Play Therapy
Psychometrics / statistics & numerical data*
Reproducibility of Results