Author/Authors :
Jalilevand, Nahid Department of Speech and Language Pathology - School of Rehabilitation Sciences - Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran , Kamali, Mohammad Department of Rehabilitation Management - School of Rehabilitation Sciences - Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran , Modarresi, Yahya Department of Linguistics - Institute for Humanities and Cultural Studies, Tehran, Iran , Kazemi, Yalda Department of Speech Therapy - Faculty of Rehabilitation - Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran
Abstract :
Background: Developmental Sentence Scoring (DSS) was developed as a numerical measurement and a clinical
method based on the morphosyntactic acquisition in the English language. The aim of this study was to develop
a new numerical tool similar to DSS to assess the morphosyntactic abilities in Persian-speaking children.
Methods: In this cross-sectional and comparative study, the language samples of 115 typically developing
Persian-speaking children aged 30 - 65 months were audio recorded during the free play and picture description
sessions. The Persian Developmental Sentence Score (PDSS) and the Mean Length of Utterance (MLU) were
calculated. Pearson correlation and one – way Analysis of variance (ANOVA) were used for data analysis.
Results: The correlation between PDSS and MLU in morphemes (convergent validity) was significant with a
correlation coefficient of 0.97 (p< 0.001). The value Cronbach's Alpha (= 0.79) in the grammatical categories
and the split-half coefficient (0.86) indicated acceptable internal consistency reliability.
Conclusion: The PDSS could be used as a reliable numerical measurement to estimate the syntactic development
in Persian-speaking children.
Keywords :
Persian Language , Typically Developing Children , Reliability , Validity , Language Measurement
