EARLY COMMUNICATION INDICATOR-PORTUGAL: EVIDENCE FOR ITS USE IN ASSESSING AND MONITORING COMMUNICATION IN YOUNG CHILDREN

Sandra Ferreira, Anabela Cruz-Santos, Leandro S. Almeida

Abstract


The need for effective, globally validated tools to assess and monitor communication in early childhood has led different populations to explore and adapt tools that have already been validated in other countries and languages.  A promising tool to support the assessment and monitoring of early communication is the Early Communication Indicator (ECI), developed in the USA. The ECI has recently been adapted for the Portuguese population, and the aim of this paper is to describe its characteristics and report the results obtained with Portuguese children aged between 6 and 42 months, presenting evidence for its use in assessing and monitoring communication in Portuguese children at an early age. This evidence shows the sensitivity of the ECI-Portugal in capturing the changes that occur throughout the communicative development of Portuguese children in the early years, and in identifying differences between children with and without communication disorders. Further research is needed to advance the development of the ECI in the Portuguese context. Consequently, a discussion of the research and practical steps needed to move this project forward is presented.

 

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assessment; monitoring; early communication; communication disorders

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DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.46827/ejes.v11i12.5622

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