Infant-Toddler Checklist identifies 18-month-old children with communication difficulties in the Swedish child healthcare setting

Abstract

Aim: At present, there is no reliable method to screen for communication difficulties at age 18-months in the Swedish child health care. This study examined the psychometric properties of the Communication and Symbolic Behavior Scales Developmental Profile Infant-Toddler Checklist (ITC) when used at the 18-month visit in the child healthcare setting.

Methods: Children aged 16-20 months (n = 679) were screened. Children were referred for an assessment if they screened positive screen or if the parent or nurse was concerned about the child's communicative development. Two groups of positive screens were used in the analysis (n = 78 children), one based on the ITC result, and one combining the ITC with contradicting information from the nurses' informal clinical assessment.

Results: The AUC ranged from 0.68 to 0.84. The sensitivity was 0.85, and the specificity was 0.59. When the ITC result was combined with the nurses' information, sensitivity increased to 0.88 and specificity to 0.63. The internal consistency was moderate to high, and fit indices were satisfactory.

Conclusion: The results suggest that the ITC can be used to identify children in need of interventions to enhance communication at 18 months of age, especially in combination with the nurse's assessment.

Keywords: communication; early screening; language screening; toddlers.