Papers by SOFIA PAPAIOANNOU
Η ανάπτυξη αναγνωστικών, γλωσσικών και γνωστικών δεξιοτήτων στους μαθητές του δημοτικού σχολείου
Development of Cognitive and Academic Abilities in Greek Elementary School Students The developme... more Development of Cognitive and Academic Abilities in Greek Elementary School Students The development of language and reading skills is closely linked to the maturation ofcognitive abilities. This study focuses on Attention and Executive skills (EFs) and theirconnection with the development of language and reading skills among elementary schoolstudents, with emphasis on reading comprehension. In the context of two studies weexamined: the effect of Attention and EFs on Reading Comprehension controlling for printrelatedskills, the direct and indirect effects of attention, the factors that may moderate theseeffects of cognitive abilities on Reading Comprehension, and the cognitive and academicperformance of children demonstrating teacher-rated ADHD-related symptoms. A battery of tests assessing Sustained Attention, Short-term Memory (STM), EFs, andacademic skills was administered to a representative sample of, largely untreated, Greekelementary school students (N= 597 and N=923, respectively). Attention and EFs contributedsignificant additional variance to the prediction of Reading Comprehension after controllingfor efficiency, accuracy, morphosyntactic and vocabulary knowledge. Attention-relatedabilities contributed to Reading Comprehension indirectly through EFs. The only factor thatmoderated the effects of EFs on Reading Comprehension was Reading Efficiency. Significantdeficits in EFs and STM were restricted to the groups of students displaying inattentionsymptoms. Results demonstrated a close link between EFs, other than inhibition and set-shifting,everyday symptoms of inattention, and achievement in math and word-level reading skills.Reduced performance on EF measures was identified as the most important factor thatdistinguished between students with pervasive academic difficulties and their typicallyachieving peers, regardless of the presence of inattention symptoms. Considering the crosssectionalnature of the present study, our results provide some support to the hypothesis that EF deficits are causally related to developmental academic difficulties, and may set a firmbasis for implementing a cognitive approach to the management of students with ReadingComprehension difficulties and severe inattention symptoms.
Communication Disorders Quarterly
The few reports on the language skills of children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder ... more The few reports on the language skills of children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) offer conflicting evidence on whether they face significant challenges, and if so, whether these challenges are present in all aspects of language. Here, we investigated a sample of Greek-speaking children with ADHD ( n = 29) using a structural language (vocabulary, grammar) and a pragmatic language assessment. To ascertain the extent of strengths and weaknesses, we compared the performance of children with ADHD to typically developing (TD) peers ( n = 29) and also to children with developmental language disorder (DLD; n = 25), who face challenges particularly in structural language. As regards structural language, ADHD children performed significantly lower than their TD peers but significantly higher than the DLD group. In pragmatics, ADHD children performed numerically lower than any other group, but differences did not reach statistical significance. Children with ADHD face di...
Μeλeτήσαμe τα γλωσσικά προφίλ παιδιών μe Διαταραχή Eλλeιμματικής Προσοχής/ Υπeρκινητικότητα (ΔEΠ-... more Μeλeτήσαμe τα γλωσσικά προφίλ παιδιών μe Διαταραχή Eλλeιμματικής Προσοχής/ Υπeρκινητικότητα (ΔEΠ-Υ), ηλικίας 4.50-8.15 eτών (Μ = 6.58), προκeιμένου να eλέγξουμe τις δομικές και πραγματολογικές τους ικανότητeς. Τα συγκρίναμe μe παιδιά τυπικής ανάπτυξης (ΤΑ) και παιδιά μe Αναπτυξιακή Γλωσσική Διαταραχή (ΑΓΔ). Eπιπλέον, eξeτάσαμe ορισμένους παράγοντeς που πιθανώς eπηρeάζουν την πραγματολογική eπίδοση. Στις λeξιλογικές και δομικές πτυχές, τα παιδιά μe ΔEΠ-Υ eίχαν σαφώς χeιρότeρη eπίδοση από τα παιδιά ΤΑ, αλλά καλύτeρη από τα παιδιά μe ΑΓΔ. Στις πραγματολογικές δοκιμασίeς, eίχαν τη χeιρότeρη eπίδοση από όλeς τις ομάδeς, αλλά οι διαφορές δeν ήταν στατιστικώς σημαντικές. Ο μόνος παράγοντας από όσους μeλeτήθηκαν που φάνηκe να eπηρeάζeι την πραγματολογική eπίδοση ήταν η eπίδοση στις δομικές και λeξιλογικές δοκιμασίeς. Τα παιδιά μe ΔEΠ-Υ αντιμeτωπίζουν σημαντικές δυσκολίeς σe δομικές και λeξιλογικές πτυχές της γλώσσας. Αυτό σe συνδυασμό μe το γeγονός ότι η eπίδοση σe αυτούς τους τομeίς αποτe...
Η ανάπτυξη αναγνωστικών, γλωσσικών και γνωστικών δεξιοτήτων στους μαθητές του δημοτικού σχολείου
Development of Cognitive and Academic Abilities in Greek Elementary School Students The developme... more Development of Cognitive and Academic Abilities in Greek Elementary School Students The development of language and reading skills is closely linked to the maturation ofcognitive abilities. This study focuses on Attention and Executive skills (EFs) and theirconnection with the development of language and reading skills among elementary schoolstudents, with emphasis on reading comprehension. In the context of two studies weexamined: the effect of Attention and EFs on Reading Comprehension controlling for printrelatedskills, the direct and indirect effects of attention, the factors that may moderate theseeffects of cognitive abilities on Reading Comprehension, and the cognitive and academicperformance of children demonstrating teacher-rated ADHD-related symptoms. A battery of tests assessing Sustained Attention, Short-term Memory (STM), EFs, andacademic skills was administered to a representative sample of, largely untreated, Greekelementary school students (N= 597 and N=923, respecti...
Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 2020
Purpose This study investigated component skills in oral language development utilizing and valid... more Purpose This study investigated component skills in oral language development utilizing and validating a new assessment battery in a large ( N = 800) and representative sample of Greek students 4–7 years of age. Method All participants enrolled in public schools from four geographical regions (Attica, Thessaly, Macedonia, and Crete) that varied demographically (urban, semiurban, and rural). For the individualized language assessments, we utilized mobile devices (tablet PC) to ensure children's interest and joyful participation as well as reliable administration procedures across sites. Results by confirmatory factor analyses specified and validated five different models in each grade to identify the best conceptualization of language dimensionality in the respective age groups. Results Four-dimensional model provided a slightly better discriminant validity in language data of the preschool group. However, in kindergarten and first grades, the five-dimensional model had the best ...
Frontiers in psychology, 2017
Different language skills are considered fundamental for successful reading and spelling acquisit... more Different language skills are considered fundamental for successful reading and spelling acquisition. Extensive evidence has highlighted the central role of phonological awareness in early literacy experiences. However, many orthographic systems also require the contribution of morphological awareness. The goal of this study was to examine the morphological and phonological awareness skills of preschool children as longitudinal predictors of reading and spelling ability by the end of first grade, controlling for the effects of receptive and expressive vocabulary skills. At Time 1 preschool children from kindergartens in the Greek regions of Attika, Crete, Macedonia, and Thessaly were assessed on tasks tapping receptive and expressive vocabulary, phonological awareness (syllable and phoneme), and morphological awareness (inflectional and derivational). Tasks were administered through an Android application for mobile devices (tablets) featuring automatic application of ceiling rules....
Preschool and Primary Education, 2016
The aim of the study was to investigate the developmental path of narrative skills of preschool a... more The aim of the study was to investigate the developmental path of narrative skills of preschool and primary school children. Two hundred thirty seven Greek-speaking children from various regions of Greece participated in the study. They were separated in three age groups: 4-5, 5-6 and 6-7 years old. Retelling and narrative production skills were evaluated. Correlations between the two narrative skills were investigated. Four illustrated stories were used (two stories for retelling and two stories for narrative production).Children’s narratives were collected and transcribed from the recordings. Then, narratives were coded and assessed according to certain criteria: microstructure/ cohesion (conjunction and lexical cohesion) and macrostructure/ coherence (story grammar and temporal sequencing of actions and events). The findings revealed that narratives of older children tended to be better according to the story structure criteria in comparison to narratives produced by younger chil...
In educational and clinical settings, few norm-referenced tests have
been utilized until now usua... more In educational and clinical settings, few norm-referenced tests have
been utilized until now usually focusing on a single or a few language
subcomponents, along with very few language rating scales for parents and
educators. The need for a comprehensive language assessment tool for
preschool and early school years children which could form the basis for
valid and reliable screening and diagnostic decisions, led to the development
of a new norm-referenced digital tool called Logometro®. The aim of
the present study is to describe Logometro® as well as its psychometric
characteristics. Logometro® evaluates an array of oral language skills across
the different language domains such as phonological awareness, listening
comprehension, vocabulary knowledge (receptive and expressive), narrative
speech, morphological awareness, pragmatics, as well emergent literacy skills
(letter sound knowledge and invented writing) in Greek-speaking 4–7 years
old children. More specifically, Logometro® has been designed in order
to: (a) map individual language development paths as well as difficulties,
(b) provide a descriptive profile of children’s oral language and emergent
literacy skills, and (c) assist in the identification of children who are at risk
for Developmental Language Disorder (DLD) or Specific Learning Disabilities
(SLD). The sample consisted of 926 children aged from 4 to 7 years, which
were recruited from diverse geographical provinces and represented a variety
of socioeconomic backgrounds in Greece. Eight hundred participants were
typically developing children (Nboys = 384 and Ngirls = 416), 126 children (NSLI = 44
and NSLD = 82) represented children with Special Educational Needs, and 126
children were typically developing peers matched for gender and age with
the clinical groups. The administration lasted 90 min, depending on the
participant’s age and competence. Validity (construct, criterion, convergent,
discriminant, and predictive) as well as internal consistency and test–retest
reliability were assessed. Results indicated that Logometro® is characterized
by good psychometric properties and can constitute a norm-referenced
battery of oral language and emergent literacy skills. It could be used to inform
the professionals as well as the researchers about a child’s language strengths and weaknesses and form the basis on which they can design an appropriate individualized intervention if needed.
Frontiers in Psychology
In educational and clinical settings, few norm-referenced tests have been utilized until now usua... more In educational and clinical settings, few norm-referenced tests have been utilized until now usually focusing on a single or a few language subcomponents, along with very few language rating scales for parents and educators. The need for a comprehensive language assessment tool for preschool and early school years children which could form the basis for valid and reliable screening and diagnostic decisions, led to the development of a new norm-referenced digital tool called Logometro®. The aim of the present study is to describe Logometro® as well as its psychometric characteristics. Logometro® evaluates an array of oral language skills across the different language domains such as phonological awareness, listening comprehension, vocabulary knowledge (receptive and expressive), narrative speech, morphological awareness, pragmatics, as well emergent literacy skills (letter sound knowledge and invented writing) in Greek-speaking 4–7 years old children. More specifically, Logometro® ha...
Purpose: This study investigated component skills in oral language development utilizing and vali... more Purpose: This study investigated component skills in oral language development utilizing and validating a new assessment battery in a large (N = 800) and representative sample of Greek students 4–7 years of age.Method: All participants enrolled in public schools from four geographical regions (Attica, Thessaly, Macedonia, and Crete) that varied demographically (urban, semiurban, and rural). For the individualized language assessments, we utilized mobile devices (tablet PC) to ensure children’s interest and joyful participation as well as reliable administration procedures across sites. Results by confirmatory factor analyses specified and validated five different models in each grade to identify the best conceptualization of language dimensionality in the respective age groups.Results: Four-dimensional model provided a slightly better discriminant validity in language data of the preschool group. However, in kindergarten and first grades, the five-dimensional model had the best fit ...
Applied Psycholinguistics, 2017
ABSTRACTThis cross-sectional study examined the development of morphological awareness in Greek c... more ABSTRACTThis cross-sectional study examined the development of morphological awareness in Greek children 4–7 years old. A distinction was adopted between epilinguistic control, evidenced in judgment tasks and indicative of elementary levels of awareness, and metalinguistic awareness, evidenced in production tasks and indicative of full-blown conscious awareness. The morphological domains of inflectional and derivational morphology were specifically contrasted to determine whether they follow distinct developmental trajectories. Trial-level performance data from 236 children in four morphological awareness tasks as a function of age were modeled using generalized additive models. Significant performance increase with age was found for all four awareness tasks. The results further indicated that production of derivational morphemes was consistently more difficult than production of inflectional morphemes and judgment of derivational morphemes, whereas the differences between the two i...
Journal of Psycholinguistic Research, 2021
Oral language and narrative skills constitute very critical factors for children's academic perfo... more Oral language and narrative skills constitute very critical factors for children's academic performance and social competence. The aim of the present study was to investigate the developmental patterns of story retelling as well as the relationship between oral language and story retelling in preschool and primary school children. 237 Greekspeaking children (4-5, 5-6 and 6-7 years old) participated in the study. Vocabulary knowledge, phonological awareness, morphological awareness skills and pragmatics were examined through a standardized psychometric test. Story retelling was measured by inviting the children to listen to a story and then retell it. Children's narratives were evaluated according to microstructure (use of conjunctions and lexical cohesion) and macrostructure (story grammar and temporal sequencing) criteria. The results showed that older children performed better than the younger ones across all the oral language and story retelling tasks. Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) revealed that vocabulary skills stand out as a stable predictor across all the three age groups. A new finding was also demonstrated, highlighting that morphological awareness, phonological awareness skills and pragmatics work together with vocabulary skills in diverse patterns at different points of a child's development, in order to support his/her ability to retell a story.
Frontiers in Psychology , 2022
In educational and clinical settings, few norm-referenced tests have
been utilized until now us... more In educational and clinical settings, few norm-referenced tests have
been utilized until now usually focusing on a single or a few language
subcomponents, along with very few language rating scales for parents and
educators. The need for a comprehensive language assessment tool for
preschool and early school years children which could form the basis for
valid and reliable screening and diagnostic decisions, led to the development
of a new norm-referenced digital tool called Logometro®. The aim of
the present study is to describe Logometro® as well as its psychometric
characteristics. Logometro® evaluates an array of oral language skills across
the different language domains such as phonological awareness, listening
comprehension, vocabulary knowledge (receptive and expressive), narrative
speech, morphological awareness, pragmatics, as well emergent literacy skills
(letter sound knowledge and invented writing) in Greek-speaking 4–7 years
old children. More specifically, Logometro® has been designed in order
to: (a) map individual language development paths as well as difficulties,
(b) provide a descriptive profile of children’s oral language and emergent
literacy skills, and (c) assist in the identification of children who are at risk
for Developmental Language Disorder (DLD) or Specific Learning Disabilities
(SLD). The sample consisted of 926 children aged from 4 to 7 years, which
were recruited from diverse geographical provinces and represented a variety
of socioeconomic backgrounds in Greece. Eight hundred participants were
typically developing children (Nboys = 384 and Ngirls = 416), 126 children (NSLI = 44
and NSLD = 82) represented children with Special Educational Needs, and 126
children were typically developing peers matched for gender and age with
the clinical groups. The administration lasted 90 min, depending on the
participant’s age and competence. Validity (construct, criterion, convergent,
discriminant, and predictive) as well as internal consistency and test–retest
reliability were assessed. Results indicated that Logometro® is characterized
by good psychometric properties and can constitute a norm-referenced
battery of oral language and emergent literacy skills. It could be used to inform
the professionals as well as the researchers about a child’s language strengths and weaknesses and form the basis on which they can design an appropriate
individualized intervention if needed
This cross-sectional study examined the development of morphological awareness in Greek children ... more This cross-sectional study examined the development of morphological awareness in Greek children 4–7 years old. A distinction was adopted between epilinguistic control, evidenced in judgment tasks and indicative of elementary levels of awareness, and metalinguistic awareness, evidenced in production tasks and indicative of full-blown conscious awareness. The morphological domains of inflectional and derivational morphology were specifically contrasted to determine whether they follow distinct developmental trajectories. Trial-level performance data from 236 children in four morphological awareness tasks as a function of age were modeled using generalized additive models. Significant performance increase with age was found for all four awareness tasks. The results further indicated that production of derivational morphemes was consistently more difficult than production of inflectional morphemes and judgment of derivational morphemes, whereas the differences between the two inflectio...
J Psycholinguist Res, 2021
Oral language and narrative skills constitute very critical factors for children's academic perfo... more Oral language and narrative skills constitute very critical factors for children's academic performance and social competence. The aim of the present study was to investigate the developmental patterns of story retelling, as well as the relationship between oral language and story retelling in preschool and primary school children. Two hundred and thirty-seven Greek-speaking children (4-5, 5-6 and 6-7 years old) participated in the study. Vocabulary knowledge, phonological awareness, morphological awareness skills and pragmatics were examined through a standardized psychometric test. Story retelling was measured by inviting the children to listen to a story and then retell it. Children's narratives were evaluated according to microstructure (use of conjunctions and lexical cohesion) and macrostructure (story grammar and temporal sequencing) criteria. The results showed that children performed better as they got older across all the oral language and story retelling tasks. Structural equation modeling revealed that vocabulary skills stand out as a stable predictor across all the three age groups. A new finding was also demonstrated, highlighting that morphological awareness, phonological awareness skills and pragmatics work together with vocabulary skills in diverse patterns at different points of a child's development, in order to support his/her ability to retell a story.
Diamanti, V., Benaki, A., Mouzaki, A., Ralli. A.Μ., Antoniou, F., Papaioannou, S., & Protopapas, A. (2017). Development of early morphological awareness in Greek: Epilinguistic vs. metalinguistic and inflectional vs. derivational awareness. Applied Psycholinguistics 39(3):1-23 Applied Psycholinguistics, 2017
This cross-sectional study examined the development of morphological awareness in Greek children ... more This cross-sectional study examined the development of morphological awareness in Greek children 4-7 years old. A distinction was adopted between epilinguistic control, evidenced in judgment tasks and indicative of elementary levels of awareness, and metalinguistic awareness, evidenced in production tasks and indicative of full-blown conscious awareness. The morphological domains of inflectional and derivational morphology were specifically contrasted to determine whether they follow distinct developmental trajectories. Trial-level performance data from 236 children in four morphological awareness tasks as a function of age were modeled using generalized additive models. Significant performance increase with age was found for all four awareness tasks. The results further indicated that production of derivational morphemes was consistently more difficult than production of inflectional morphemes and judgment of derivational morphemes, whereas the differences between the two inflectional and between the two judgment tasks were not significant. This suggests that at these ages, epilinguistic control is similarly effective for the two morphological domains whereas full metalinguistic awareness
Mouzaki, A., Spyropoulou, E., Ralli, A.M., Antoniou, F., Diamanti, V. Papaioannou, S.(2020).The dimensionality of oral language ability: evidence from young Greek children, Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research,63,2732–2751 Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 2020
This study investigated component skills in oral language development utilizing and validating a ... more This study investigated component skills in oral language development utilizing and validating a new assessment battery in a large (N = 800) and representative sample of Greek students 4-7 years of age. Method: All participants enrolled in public schools from four geographical regions (Attica, Thessaly, Macedonia, and Crete) that varied demographically (urban, semiurban, and rural). For the individualized language assessments, we utilized mobile devices (tablet PC) to ensure children's interest and joyful participation as well as reliable administration procedures across sites. Results by confirmatory factor analyses specified and validated five different models in each grade to identify the best conceptualization of language dimensionality in the respective age groups. Results: Four-dimensional model provided a slightly better discriminant validity in language data of the preschool group. However, in kindergarten and first grades, the fivedimensional model had the best fit to the data to the fourdimensional. Conclusion: These findings support the multidimensionality of oral language ability at this phase of development and increase of factor distinctiveness as children grow.
Ralli, A.M., Kazali, E., Kanellou, M. Mouzaki, A., Antoniou, F., Diamanti, V., Papaioannou, S. (2021). Oral language and story retelling during preschool and primary school years: Developmental patterns and interrelationships Journal of Psycholinguistic Research. Journal of Psycholinguistic Research., 2021
Oral language and narrative skills constitute very critical factors for children's academic perfo... more Oral language and narrative skills constitute very critical factors for children's academic performance and social competence. The aim of the present study was to investigate the developmental patterns of story retelling, as well as the relationship between oral language and story retelling in preschool and primary school children. Two hundred and thirty-seven Greek-speaking children (4-5, 5-6 and 6-7 years old) participated in the study. Vocabulary knowledge, phonological awareness, morphological awareness skills and pragmatics were examined through a standardized psychometric test. Story retelling was measured by inviting the children to listen to a story and then retell it. Children's narratives were evaluated according to microstructure (use of conjunctions and lexical cohesion) and macrostructure (story grammar and temporal sequencing) criteria. The results showed that children performed better as they got older across all the oral language and story retelling tasks. Structural equation modeling revealed that vocabulary skills stand out as a stable predictor across all the three age groups. A new finding was also demonstrated, highlighting that morphological awareness, phonological awareness skills and pragmatics work together with vocabulary skills in diverse patterns at different points of a child's development, in order to support his/her ability to retell a story.
Educational Psychology, 2014
The study assessed cognitive and academic performance of children demonstrating teacher-rated ADH... more The study assessed cognitive and academic performance of children demonstrating teacher-rated ADHD-related symptoms (Inattention [IA] and/or Hyperactivity/Impulsivity [H/I]) in a representative sample of, largely untreated, Greek elementary school students (N = 923). A battery of tests assessing short-term memory (STM), sustained attention, executive functions (EFs), reading and math skills were administered. Significant deficits in EFs and STM were restricted to the groups of students displaying inattention symptoms and were only marginally elevated among students showing hyperactivity/impulsivity symptoms alone, in comparison to their non-symptomatic peers. A similar pattern of group differences was observed on tests assessing word-and text-level reading skills. Impaired performance on sustained attention tasks was less evident. Among students who manifested inattention symptoms, those who also showed impaired reading skills presented more severe EFs deficits than typically achieving students. Results demonstrated a close link between EFs, other than inhibition and set-shifting, everyday symptoms of inattention, and achievement in math and word-level reading skills.
Η γνωστική ανάπτυξη του παιδιού και η ικανότητα μάθησης στο σχολικό πλαίσιο είναι άμεσα συνυφα... more Η γνωστική ανάπτυξη του παιδιού και η ικανότητα μάθησης στο σχολικό πλαίσιο είναι άμεσα συνυφασμένες με τις γλωσσικές δεξιότητες. O βαθμός ανάπτυξης των δεξιοτήτων αυτών μπορεί να επηρεάσει την ακαδημαϊκή επίδοση του παιδιού και άλλες πτυχές της εξέλιξής του (Storch & Whitehurst, 2002; Dockrell et al., 2007; Torgesen, 2000). Η ανάγκη για έγκαιρο εντοπισμό - στην προσχολική ηλικία -οδήγησε στη δημιουργία μια εφαρμογής που περιλαμβάνει μια νέα συστοιχίας για την αξιολόγηση της γλωσσικής ανάπτυξης σε παιδιά ηλικίας 4-7 ετών. Πιο συγκεκριμένα αξιολογεί τις γλωσσικές δεξιότητες Φωνολογικής Επίγνωσης και Επεξεργασίας, Ακουστικής κατανόησης, Λεξιλογίου (προσληπτικού και εκφραστικού), Αφηγηματικού Λόγου, Μορφολογικής Επίγνωσης και Πραγματολογικής Επάρκειας, αλλά και δεξιότητες που σχετίζονται με το γραπτό λόγο: Αναγνώριση Φθόγγων, Επινοημένη Γραφή Ονόματος και Πρότασης. Με τη χρήση της τεχνολογίας είναι εφικτή η άμεση ανίχνευση των δυνατοτήτων ή ελλειμμάτων του κάθε παιδιού στους βασικούς τομείς της γλωσσικής ανάπτυξης.
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Papers by SOFIA PAPAIOANNOU
been utilized until now usually focusing on a single or a few language
subcomponents, along with very few language rating scales for parents and
educators. The need for a comprehensive language assessment tool for
preschool and early school years children which could form the basis for
valid and reliable screening and diagnostic decisions, led to the development
of a new norm-referenced digital tool called Logometro®. The aim of
the present study is to describe Logometro® as well as its psychometric
characteristics. Logometro® evaluates an array of oral language skills across
the different language domains such as phonological awareness, listening
comprehension, vocabulary knowledge (receptive and expressive), narrative
speech, morphological awareness, pragmatics, as well emergent literacy skills
(letter sound knowledge and invented writing) in Greek-speaking 4–7 years
old children. More specifically, Logometro® has been designed in order
to: (a) map individual language development paths as well as difficulties,
(b) provide a descriptive profile of children’s oral language and emergent
literacy skills, and (c) assist in the identification of children who are at risk
for Developmental Language Disorder (DLD) or Specific Learning Disabilities
(SLD). The sample consisted of 926 children aged from 4 to 7 years, which
were recruited from diverse geographical provinces and represented a variety
of socioeconomic backgrounds in Greece. Eight hundred participants were
typically developing children (Nboys = 384 and Ngirls = 416), 126 children (NSLI = 44
and NSLD = 82) represented children with Special Educational Needs, and 126
children were typically developing peers matched for gender and age with
the clinical groups. The administration lasted 90 min, depending on the
participant’s age and competence. Validity (construct, criterion, convergent,
discriminant, and predictive) as well as internal consistency and test–retest
reliability were assessed. Results indicated that Logometro® is characterized
by good psychometric properties and can constitute a norm-referenced
battery of oral language and emergent literacy skills. It could be used to inform
the professionals as well as the researchers about a child’s language strengths and weaknesses and form the basis on which they can design an appropriate individualized intervention if needed.
been utilized until now usually focusing on a single or a few language
subcomponents, along with very few language rating scales for parents and
educators. The need for a comprehensive language assessment tool for
preschool and early school years children which could form the basis for
valid and reliable screening and diagnostic decisions, led to the development
of a new norm-referenced digital tool called Logometro®. The aim of
the present study is to describe Logometro® as well as its psychometric
characteristics. Logometro® evaluates an array of oral language skills across
the different language domains such as phonological awareness, listening
comprehension, vocabulary knowledge (receptive and expressive), narrative
speech, morphological awareness, pragmatics, as well emergent literacy skills
(letter sound knowledge and invented writing) in Greek-speaking 4–7 years
old children. More specifically, Logometro® has been designed in order
to: (a) map individual language development paths as well as difficulties,
(b) provide a descriptive profile of children’s oral language and emergent
literacy skills, and (c) assist in the identification of children who are at risk
for Developmental Language Disorder (DLD) or Specific Learning Disabilities
(SLD). The sample consisted of 926 children aged from 4 to 7 years, which
were recruited from diverse geographical provinces and represented a variety
of socioeconomic backgrounds in Greece. Eight hundred participants were
typically developing children (Nboys = 384 and Ngirls = 416), 126 children (NSLI = 44
and NSLD = 82) represented children with Special Educational Needs, and 126
children were typically developing peers matched for gender and age with
the clinical groups. The administration lasted 90 min, depending on the
participant’s age and competence. Validity (construct, criterion, convergent,
discriminant, and predictive) as well as internal consistency and test–retest
reliability were assessed. Results indicated that Logometro® is characterized
by good psychometric properties and can constitute a norm-referenced
battery of oral language and emergent literacy skills. It could be used to inform
the professionals as well as the researchers about a child’s language strengths and weaknesses and form the basis on which they can design an appropriate
individualized intervention if needed