The early communicative skills among a sample of Egyptian infants and toddlers

Abstract

Abstract Background The development of early communicative skills has always been an area of interest in the medical field. Although the assessment of early communicative skills and its relation to language development is important, it is a deficient field of research among Egyptian children. Therefore the current work is aiming to explore the early communicative skills among a sample of infants and toddlers in Egypt and to develop an Arabic assessment tool for early communicative abilities. A cross-sectional study was carried on in the period between January 2015 and January 2018. The study developed an assessment tool for assessment of early communicative skills (Early Communicative Skills Assessment Checklist in Arabic (ECSAC)) and then examined these communicative abilities among a sample of normally developed 151 Egyptian infants and toddler [83 (55%) males and 68 (45%) females] aged between 6 and 24 months. Then, the normative data of development of the early communicative skills were determined for the children in the period from 6 to 12 months, 13 to 18 months, and 19 to 24 months. Results ECSAC was a valid and reliable tool for assessment of early communicative skills among Egyptian children. The normal age of development of different early communicative skills was determined. Both sexes performed equally on the checklist. Conclusion ECSAC is a valid and reliable assessment tool among Egyptian infants and toddler.