Assessment of Language Comprehension and Learning in Children Attending Child Psychiatry Services (TICOALA-SOINS)

Centre Hospitalier St Anne

Status

Not yet enrolling

Conditions

Typical Development

Children Behavior Problem

Typically Developing Children Ages 3 to 6

Children

Typical Preschoolers Who Can Not Zipper

FRENCH STUDY

Treatments

Other: TICOALA

Study type

Interventional

Funder types

Other

Identifiers

NCT07283458

D25-P001

Details and patient eligibility

About

Language is central to children's cognitive, emotional, and social development, and language difficulties are a frequent reason for consultation in child psychiatry, often co-occurring with psychiatric disorders. Yet, systematic language assessment is rarely possible due to the limited availability of speech-language therapists in these services.

The TICOALA tool (Interactive Test of Language Comprehension and Learning on tablet) offers a quick and engaging way to evaluate lexical and syntactic comprehension and word learning. This study aims to assess its acceptability among children aged 3-7 attending a child psychiatry service in Paris, as well as among clinicians and parents. Secondary goals include testing the feasibility of a larger study, describing children's language skills, and examining how these relate to clinical and background variables.

Full description

Language is intrinsically linked to children's cognitive, social, emotional, and psychological development, and plays a crucial role in both academic achievement and psychosocial adjustment. In child psychiatry, language difficulties are a common reason for consultation and are frequently associated with psychiatric conditions such as anxiety disorders or attention difficulties. However, due to the limited availability of speech-language therapists in these settings, systematic language assessments are rarely conducted.

The TICOALA tool (Interactive Test of Language Comprehension and Learning on tablet) offers a quick and engaging way to evaluate children's lexical and syntactic comprehension, as well as their ability to learn new words. Integrating this tool into clinical practice could provide an initial language assessment and help guide referrals for formal speech-language evaluation.

Main Objective To assess the acceptability of the TICOALA tool among children attending our child psychiatry service.

Secondary Objectives

To evaluate its acceptability for clinicians (psychiatrists, psychologists) and parents.
To assess the acceptability of the parental clinical questionnaire.
To determine the feasibility of conducting a larger-scale study.
To describe the language skills (lexical, syntactic, word learning) of children in our service.
To analyze the relationship between language skills and clinical/anamnestic data (socio-economic background, play and screen exposure, language experience, etc.).

Target Population Children aged 3-7 years consulting at the child psychiatry service in the 14th arrondissement of Paris.

Enrollment

50 estimated patients

Sex

All

Ages

3 to 7 years old

Volunteers

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

Children (boys or girls) aged 3-7 years
Consulting in the child psychiatry service
Enrolled in a French-speaking school

Exclusion criteria

Inability to use the tablet-based TICOALA tool due to severe sensory (blindness, deafness), motor, or intellectual impairment
Refusal of the child or parents/legal guardians to participate
Child not affiliated with the French social security system