Q-BEx as triage tool
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Co-creating guidelines for the use Q-BEx for language screening
IRAS ID
352126
Contact name
Cecile De Cat
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Leeds
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 3 months, 24 days
Research summary
ELSEC (“Early Language Support for Every Child”) is a joint initiative of NHS England and the Department for Education in England (the "SENDAP Change Programme"), to improve the early identification of children's language support needs and reduce the rate of unnecessary specialist referrals, thereby increasing workforce capacity. Bradford is one of the nine ELSEC pathfinder sites. The Bradford pathfinder site is trialling the use Q-BEx as a triage tool to flag children at risk of language impairment. Q-BEx (“Quantifying Bilingual Experience”) is an online questionnaire, available in 28 languages, which produces individual reports of children’s experience and proficiency in up to three languages. Using the information provided by parents, it calculates a Language Concern score to flag children at risk of language impairment.
Our aim is to jointly evaluate the informativity of Q-BEx as triage tool, thereby helping ESLEC improve standards of evidence for language screening and reduce unnecessary referrals. This will require comparing the Q-BEx Language Concern score with independent screening scores (which will be obtained through specialist assessment carried out by the Bradford-based ELSEC team).
Beyond the ELSEC service evaluation, this research project aims to improve Q-BEx and create guidelines for its implementation at national level. The ability of the Q-BEx Language Concern score to correctly flag children who require language support will be assessed using standard procedures (quantitative modelling), estimating how reliably it predicts the ELSEC assessment score. The identification of an optimal threshold for referral will be decided in collaboration with groups involving members of the Bradford ELSEC pathfinder team, based on the analyses mentioned above.
REC name
London - Dulwich Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
25/PR/0587
Date of REC Opinion
1 Jul 2025
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion