CATALISE: A multinational and multidisciplinary Delphi consensus study. Identifying language impairments in children

Abstract

<p>Delayed or impaired language development is a common developmental concern, yet there<br>is little agreement about the criteria used to identify and classify language impairments in<br>children. Children's language difficulties are at the interface between education, medicine<br>and the allied professions, who may all adopt different approaches to conceptualising them.<br>Our goal in this study was to use an online Delphi technique to see whether it was possible<br>to achieve consensus among professionals on appropriate criteria for identifying children<br>who might benefit from specialist services. We recruited a panel of 59 experts representing<br>ten disciplines (including education, psychology, speech-language therapy/pathology, paediatrics<br>and child psychiatry) from English-speaking countries (Australia, Canada, Ireland,<br>New Zealand, United Kingdom and USA). The starting point for round 1 was a set of 46<br>statements based on articles and commentaries in a special issue of a journal focusing on<br>this topic. Panel members rated each statement for both relevance and validity on a sevenpoint<br>scale, and added free text comments. These responses were synthesised by the first<br>two authors, who then removed, combined or modified items with a view to improving consensus.<br>The resulting set of statements was returned to the panel for a second evaluation<br>(round 2). Consensus (percentage reporting 'agree' or 'strongly agree') was at least 80 percent<br>for 24 of 27 round 2 statements, though many respondents qualified their response<br>with written comments. These were again synthesised by the first two authors. The resulting<br>consensus statement is reported here, with additional summary of relevant evidence, and a<br>concluding commentary on residual disagreements and gaps in the evidence base.<br></p>