Development and Validation of Verbal Behaviour Checklist for Children with Speech Impairment in Nigeria

The aim of the present study was to develop and validate a verbal behaviour checklist for children with speech impairment. The scale is a 1-item scale that measures speech response assessed by experienced behaviourists. The scale was validated using 30 participants with varied forms of speech impairments in Abuja metropolis. The scale has a response pattern of 1- 4. The result of the analysis revealed a high intra-class reliability coefficient of .96 while factor analysis indicated a validity coefficient of .92. The raters’ agreement on the participants’ responses on the scale was also as high as 86.7% which indicates high agreement. This checklist is expected to be widely used in Nigeria where it is developed and validated for the measurement of speech responses among children (2-9years) with speech impairment.