Development of a screening checklist to assess problem behaviors in children with communication disorders

Purpose: The coexistence of problem behaviors and speech-language communication issues is widely known. But there is ambiguity in the management of children who have both behavioral and language difficulties on whether or when to make a referral for behavioral intervention. Hence, the present study aimed to develop a screening checklist to detect problem behaviors among children with communication disorders. Materials and Methods: A preliminary screening checklist was made after reviewing seven tests that are commonly used to assess problem behaviors. After content validation by three expert professionals and incorporating the observations made by them, a 13-item-screening checklist was finalized. The checklist was administered on 100 Malayalam-speaking parents of children with communication disorders aged below 14 years, identified using a systematic random sampling technique from the clinical service database (2019–2021) of All India Institute of Speech and Hearing. The interview was carried out over a telephone call. Results: The results showed that the 13-item-screening checklist was sufficient to assess problem behaviors in children in communication disorders. The results also showed a significant difference in problem behavior severity and frequency scores across communication disorders. Of the different communication disorders, the autism spectrum disorder group showed the highest presence of problem behavior. Conclusion: The easy and quick 13-item problem behavior-screening checklist, validated by expert professionals, is sufficient to assess problem behaviors in various communication disorders. The data show higher prevalence of and significant differences in problem behaviors across communication disorders, with autism spectrum disorder group showing the highest scores on problem behavior.