Developmental Stuttering Screening Instrument: evidence of sensitivity and accuracy measures

ABSTRACT Purpose: to verify the sensitivity and accuracy measures of the Developmental Stuttering Screening Instrument (DSSI). Methods: the DSSI was administered to 30 parents/guardians of children aged 2 to 5 years and 11 months with and without complaint of stuttering. The instrument administration was timed. The sensitivity analysis used the Weight of Evidence (WoE) binary classification model to verify the strength level of the items. The cutoff scores were established with grouping analysis with the k-means cluster method, based on the minimum and maximum values of each identified group’s scores. The data were analyzed with the SPSS statistical software (version 20.0) and were considered significant with p ≤ 0.05. Results: the interviews lasted an overall mean of 17 minutes. The WoE model revealed that the items with the greatest predictive strength for risk of stuttering were the social reaction to their speech, the physical concomitants, and the comprehension of the child’s speech. The correspondence analysis showed a strong association between “having complaints” and “high total score”, as well as between “not having complaints” and “low total score”, indicating that the parents’ complaints are a factor that leads to high scores in the instrument. “Sex” had little predictive effect for risk. The grouping analysis enabled the stratification of subjects into three risk levels: “not at risk”, “under observation”, and “at risk”. Conclusion: the instrument presented the first evidence of sensitivity and accuracy measures, thus, making the identification of risk of developmental stuttering in preschoolers, possible.