Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2025 Dec 12;15(12):e105032.
doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2025-105032.

Translation and content validity of the Arabic Communication and Symbolic Behaviour Scales Developmental Profile (CSBS DP) Infant-Toddler Checklist

Ghada S M Al-Bluwi  1   2 , Emad Masuadi  1 , Alexandra Marquis  3 , Rami H Al-Rifai  4 , Iffat Elbarazi  4 , Luai A Ahmed  4
Affiliations

Translation and content validity of the Arabic Communication and Symbolic Behaviour Scales Developmental Profile (CSBS DP) Infant-Toddler Checklist

Ghada S M Al-Bluwi et al. BMJ Open. .

Abstract

Objective: The Communication and Symbolic Behaviour Scales Developmental Profile Infant-Toddler Checklist (CSBS DP ITC) is a screening tool designed to identify early deficits in social communication, expressive speech/language and symbolic functioning in children aged 6-24 months. This study aimed to translate and content validate the CSBS DP ITC into Modern Standard Arabic.

Design: Methodological study involving translation and content validation.

Setting: The study was conducted in the United Arab Emirates.

Participants: The translation process involved five bilingual translators and one monolingual Arabic language expert. Ten experts participated in the content validation phase, and 10 parents of young children participated in the face validity assessment.

Outcome measures: Content Validity Indices (CVIs), including the Item-level CVI (I-CVI), the Scale-level CVI by Average (S-CVI/Ave) and the S-CVI by Universal Agreement (S-CVI/UA), along with modified kappa statistics, were calculated to assess item-level and scale-level clarity, relevance and comprehensiveness.

Results: Expert panel ratings showed high clarity (I-CVI: 0.8-1, S-CVI/Ave: 0.98, S-CVI/UA: 0.88) and similar relevance scores. Face validity assessments yielded clarity I-CVI scores of 0.9-1, with S-CVI/Ave at 0.98 and S-CVI/UA at 0.8. The modified kappa statistic ranged from 0.89 to 1, indicating strong agreement among parents.

Conclusions: The CSBS DP ITC was effectively translated and content validated into Modern Standard Arabic. The calculated CVI values ranged from excellent to acceptable. This step establishes a foundation before proceeding to full psychometric testing of the instrument, paving the way for a reliable and culturally appropriate tool to identify early communication delays for use across the Arab-speaking population.

Keywords: Child; Community child health; Primary Prevention; Speech pathology.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Competing interests: None declared.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1. Flow chart of the translation and content validation process. CSBS-DP, Communication and Symbolic Behaviour Scales Developmental Profile; ITC, Infant–Toddler Checklist; PI-FL, Preliminary Initial Arabic Language Version; P-FAL, Pre-Final Arabic Language Version.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. McLaughlin MR. Speech and language delay in children. Am Fam Physician. 2011;83:1183–8. - PubMed
    1. Catts HW, Fey ME, Tomblin JB, et al. A longitudinal investigation of reading outcomes in children with language impairments. J Speech Lang Hear Res. 2002;45:1142–57. doi: 10.1044/1092-4388(2002/093). - DOI - PubMed
    1. Le HND, Mensah F, Eadie P, et al. Health-related quality of life of children with low language from early childhood to adolescence: results from an Australian longitudinal population-based study. J Child Psychol Psychiatry. 2021;62:349–56. doi: 10.1111/jcpp.13277. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Johnson CP, Myers SM. Identification and evaluation of children with autism spectrum disorders. Pediatrics. 2007;120:1183–215. doi: 10.1542/peds.2007-2361. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Wallace IF, Berkman ND, Watson LR, et al. Screening for Speech and Language Delay in Children 5 Years Old and Younger: A Systematic Review. Pediatrics. 2015;136:e448–62. doi: 10.1542/peds.2014-3889. - DOI - PubMed

Publication types