Application of a vocabulary screening instrument for children between 3- and 7-years-old: a pilot study

Abstract

Purpose: to describe the performance of children between three and seven years of age in using an expressive and receptive screening instrument. Methods: the sample consisted of 133 children between 3 and 7 years of age, without diagnoses of neurodevelopmental disabilities or disorders. The screening was performed with the TRILHAR instrument, which includes receptive and expressive vocabulary skills. The data were analyzed by the Kruskal-Wallis, Mann-Whitney, and Spearman Correlation tests. Results: we observed a statistical difference in the groups’ performance, in addition to a positive correlation between the age group and the final score in the screening. There was statistical difference in the performance on the receptive and expressive vocabulary subtests. Conclusion: We observed difference in the performance of the groups in receptive and expressive tasks, and in the final score, with better performance for the children with 7 years. In addition, age and performance on the screening test were positively correlated, that is, the older the age, the better the performance.