Parents completed speech-language (n = 36) or audiology (n = 23) questionnaires prior to their child\'s speech-language and/or auditory evaluations. The speech-language and audiology evaluations were conducted by clinicians at three different universities not familiar with the administration and scoring of the parental questionnaires. A research assistant coded the results of the speech-language and audiology evaluations. Statistical analysis was used to determine if any aspects of the parents\' evaluation of their child\'s speech, language, or hearing correlated with the speech-language pathologists\'/audiologists\' assessment. The results of the analyses would indicate whether parental reports are a reliable alternative to professionals\' assessment.
The speech-language questionnaires for children aged 2-5 years revealed the parents\' perception of their children speaking 3-word sentences significantly (p < 0.05) corresponded to the children\'s comprehension and expression skills. The results from the auditory questionnaires revealed that reports of a child\'s ear pain were (p < 0.05) correlated with auditory dysfunction.
These questionnaires can potentially be used in low-income countries where professional resources are scarce and there are barriers to identifying children with speech-language and/or auditory impairment.