Abstract
Parent report is commonly used to assess language and attention in children for research and clinical purposes. It is therefore important to understand the convergent validity of parent-report tools in comparison to direct assessments of language and attention. In particular, cultural and linguistic background may influence this convergence. In this study a group of six- to eight-year old children (N = 110) completed direct assessments of language and attention and their parents reported on the same areas. Convergence between assessment types was explored using correlations. Possible influences of ethnicity (Hispanic or non-Hispanic) and of parent report language (English or Spanish) were explored using hierarchical linear regression. Correlations between parent report and direct child assessments were significant for both language and attention, suggesting convergence between assessment types. Ethnicity and parent report language did not moderate the relationships between direct child assessments and parent report tools for either attention or language.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Article number | e0180598 |
| Journal | PloS one |
| Volume | 12 |
| Issue number | 7 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Jul 2017 |
| Externally published | Yes |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:Portions of this study were presented at the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association Convention in Philadelphia, PA, November 2016. This work was funded by NIH R03DC013760. Thanks to Diane Rak for conducting parent interviews and providing insight into parent response patterns. I am grateful to Kathryn Ficho, Elizabeth Jenkins, Megan Peterson, Rachel Slager, and Caitlyn Slawny for their assistance on this project. I also thank Dr. Cheryl Scott for comments on an earlier version of this manuscript.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2017 Kerry Danahy Ebert. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.