Checklist of relevant ICF categories for speech and language development.

Purpose: Create a checklist of the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) based on relevant categories for the development of speech and language, according to the perception of parents and speech therapists.

Methods: Pilot application and research were carried out. 100 parents of preschool children with typical language/cognition development and 57 language specialist speech therapists participated in the survey. A questionnaire was created with 199 ICF categories of body function components, activities and participation, and environmental factors. Each category was scored as: indispensable (2); important (1) or unimportant (0). Statistical analysis was performed (descriptive, sum, cluster/K-means and Mann-Whitney method).

Results: With the sum of the points (essential, important and unimportant) and the number of responses essential, the most relevant categories were identified for each group of respondents, as well as the set of categories in common (72 considered to have the greatest influence). The common list to the groups included the three components: body functions (30 categories/40% of the total), activities and participation (35/49.29%) and environmental factors (seven/13.20%). From the selected categories, 58.33% presented statistically significant results between the groups, regarding the relevance given.

Conclusions: The categories were considered with different scores between the groups: those of body functions were more scored by speech therapists, while those of environmental factors by parents. Thus, it was possible to create a checklist from the identification of the most relevant categories for the development of speech and language, in preschool age, contemplating the components of body functions, activities and participation and environmental factors.