The reliability and validity of a progress-monitoring tool: A psychometric examination of the phonological awareness skills of preschoolers with ASD

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to conduct a psychometric evaluation the Sound Beginning phonological awareness progress monitoring tool. This assessment was used to track emergent literacy skills of preschoolers with autism spectrum disorder who were participating in a randomized trial studying early literacy interventions. Research questions in the present study included an investigation of levels of reliability, validity, item level data and the measure’s sensitivity to change in phonological awareness skills. The present study included a sample of 40 individuals with autism spectrum disorder who were in their last year of preschool. The progress monitoring tool was administered up to four times during intervention. Furthermore, a variety of emergent literacy and oral language measures were administered before and after intervention and were used in this analysis. The results of this study suggest that the phonological awareness progress monitoring assessment demonstrated sufficient levels of reliability, validity, and sensitivity to change when used with this sample of preschoolers with autism spectrum disorder.