Helena Kruger

This article describes the adaptation of the MacArthur-Bates Communicative Development Inventory (CDI) for South Africa's 11 official spoken languages. The CDI is a parent-report tool that measures early language development from 8 to 30 months. We developed cross-linguistically comparable CDIs, representing two distinct language families, West Germanic and southern Bantu, using a common protocol. We describe our approach to item construction and harmonization across languages and to obtaining sociodemographic information in different cultural settings. Issues such as language contact and variation, sampling, data collection, and quality control are discussed as well as item selection and instrument reliability and validity. This study highlights key issues for CDI adaptations and other instrument development in understudied contexts and discusses the theoretical implications of adding this diverse set of cross-linguistically comparable languages for early child language research. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).

This study compares early gesture and lexical development in 1,199 infants (0;8–1;6) across South Africa’s 11 official spoken languages using the MacArthur-Bates Communicative Development Inventory: Words and Gestures. We examined the effect of age, sex, ecological (urban-rural) setting, and maternal level of education (MLE) on early language development. Age was a significant predictor of gesture, comprehension, and production. There was no evidence of a female advantage, except in one language (Sesotho sa Leboa), where females were more likely to produce words. For ecological setting, results were mixed, with five out of 11 languages showing both positive and negative effects for urban versus rural environments. We found no evidence for the impact of MLE in seven out of 11 languages. We discuss possible explanations for these results.

Despite advancements in recognising the importance of early child language development and linguistic diversity in South Africa, culturally and linguistically appropriate assessment tools remain unevenly distributed across the official languages, posing considerable challenges for researchers and speech-language therapists. This study critically reviews the psychometric status of child language assessment tools in South Africa’s official languages. The current state of tool development is analysed, evaluating language assessment tools available for clinical and research purposes in each language. Tools that assess speech sounds, phonological processing and (pre)literacy skills were excluded, as were untraceable tools reported in previous publications, and tools that do not assess language only but form part of larger developmental assessments. Considering each language version of a tool, 37 traceable language assessment tools (at least 1 per official language), in various states of readiness, are available for use with South Africans aged 0–12 years. Out of these 37 tools, 5 tools, with collectively 7 language versions, have been validated and the statistical results of the validation study published: 4 for isiZulu, 2 for English and 1 for Siswati. Despite advances in tool development, there is still a severe lack of validated standardised child language measurement tools in all official languages of South Africa. Contribution: This is the most recent critical review of the psychometric properties of tools developed for assessing South African children’s language skills, and it highlights that past and current efforts in tool development are still insufficient.

This is the second book in the 'Health, Functioning and Technology' series. The focus of this book is on teaching, learning and assessment in rehabilitation education within the African context. The primary contributors to the book are authors from occupational therapy, physiotherapy and speech-language therapy in South Africa. The authors discuss local contextual drivers for renewing rehabilitation professions curricula that support graduates in becoming competent, socially accountable, and dynamic. The foundational element of the chapters in the book is the African context and evidence-informed educational practice. We include the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on teaching, learning, student support and the integration of technology to assist in achieving the goals of the curricula. Through the different themes of transformative learning, curriculum renewal, technology for learning and clinical training key topics are covered on responsive curricula, leadership, interprofessional education, clinical competence, critical consciousness, peer teaching and learning, learning technologies, student support and emergency remote teaching and learning.

The South African Journal of Communication Disorders (SAJCD) publishes reports and papers concerned with research, and critically evaluative theoretical, philosophical and conceptual issues dealing with aspects of human communication and its disorders, dysphagia, service provision, training and policy.

Speech-language therapists (SLTs) in South Africa are increasingly considering alternative models of service delivery to children at risk for language and literacy development delays. A transprofessional model of collaboration allows SLTs and teachers to share responsibility for primary prevention of literacy difficulties. Previous research has identified several challenges with regard to effective collaboration between qualified professionals, indicating that specific opportunities need to be created for professionals to ‘cross over disciplinary lines’ to gain more insight into a profession other than their own. Student training presents a valuable opportunity for role-exchange between pre-professional SLTs and teachers. The article describes the experiences of teachers, undergraduate SLT students and tutors with regard to transdisciplinary collaboration in the foundation-phase classroom, according to the ‘embedded-explicit’ model. The authors argue that a more in-depth understanding of the different role-players’ perceptions of transdisciplinary collaboration will contribute to enhanced collaboration between SLTs and teachers.