Comparison of the Reynell Developmental Language Scale II and the Galker test of word-recognition-in-noise in Danish day-care children

Publication date: June 2018
Source:International Journal of Pediatric Otorhinolaryngology, Volume 109
Author(s): Jørgen Lous, Maj-Britt Glenn Lauritsen
ObjectiveTo search for predictive factors for language development measured by two receptive language tests for children, the Galker test (a word-recognition-in-noise test) testing hearing and vocabulary, and the Danish version of Reynell Developmental Language Scale (2nd revision, RDLS II) test, a language comprehension test. The study analysed if information about background variables and parents and pre-school teachers was predictive for test scores; if earlier middle ear disease, actual hearing loss and tympanometry was important for language development; and if the two receptive tests differed in terms of the degree to which variables were able to predict test scores at the age of three to five years.MethodsAll children aged three and five years attending 20 day-care centres for children without cognitive development issues from the Municipality of Hillerød, Denmark, were invited to participate. We used questionnaires to the parents and day-care teachers and examined the children using tympanometry, hearing test and the two receptive language tests. We performed unadjusted and adjusted analyses of raw and grouped scores and background variables, as well as stepwise regression analysis with group scores as outcome.ResultsThe results of the two tests were surprisingly similar in relation to background variables. The same variables were predictive for scores in the two receptive language tests. The predictive variables were: age group (22–31%), having no sibling (2–3%), being a boy (1%), information from the parents about the child's vocabulary (3%), phonology (0–2%). information from the pre-school teachers on the child's vocabulary (4–6%), and hearing beyond 25 dB in best ear (mean of four frequencies) (1%).ConclusionWe found that nearly the same variables were predictive for the test score and the grouped score in pre-school children in the RDLS II and the Galker test. Information from the pre-school teachers was more predictive of the test score than information from the parents. In the adjusted analysis, beside age group, information about the child's vocabulary was the most predictive information explaining 4–6% of the variation.



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