Morphosyntactic Evaluation Protocol (MEP): validation of content

Abstract

Introduction: the use of language assessment instruments in the area of speech-language-therapy is essential for the diagnosis and, consequently, for therapeutic planning. In Brazil, there is a shortage of instruments constructed and validated in the morphosyntax area. Morphosyntactic Evaluation Protocol (MEP) was constructed based on the main syntactic characteristics of the period of acquisition of children’s language, on the Portuguese grammatical structure and the application in a pilot study. Objective: To verify the validity of MEP content. Methods: for the validation process, the instrument was applied and analyzed through a questionnaire by three judges, a linguist and two speech-language specialists with experience in assisting children with Language Development Disorder. The Index of Judges’ Reliability was used to compare the results of the protocol application and the Cronbach’s Alpha tests, Spearman-Brown and Content Validity Index (CVI) in the questionnaire responses. Results: the statistical tests applied in the validation of content legitimized the reliability of the instrument with indexes considered substantial for both alpha coeffcients, higher than 0.80, Spearman and the CVI test had a maximum concept of 1.0. Conclusion: there were compliance and compatibility in the answers of the experts, which indicates the reliability of the instrument. The results of the statistical tests legitimize the reliability of the instrument with indexes considered substantial for alpha and Spearman coeffcient. In the future, the protocol may help characterize the syntactic profle of children with language developmental disorder.