MacArthur-Bates Communication Development Inventories-Words and Sentences

Instrument Name: MacArthur-Bates Communication Development Inventories-Words and Sentences

Abbreviation: MB-CDI-WS

Points for Consideration:

Recommend usage of the latest editions.

Description of Tool:

The MacArthur-Bates Communication Development Inventories-Words and Sentences is an ObsRO developed to measure language growth in children aged 16 to 30 months (All, Language Development Disorders).

Other Related Tools (if applicable):

MacArthur-Bates Communication Development Inventories-Words and Gestures

Minimum Qualification Required by COA Administrator: No degree requirement

Comment:

The original version of the inventories was developed in 1975 by Bates, Camaioni, & Volterra, but the inventories have much changed since then
The MB-CDI is divided in to two parts. The CDI/Words and Gestures (CDI-WG) is designed for children 8 to 16 months old (also referred to as CDI Infant form, and the CDI/Words and Sentences (CDI-WS) is designed for children 16 to 30 months old (also referred to as the CDI toddler form)
Short versions of the MB-CDI also exist as well as the MB-CDI III which includes an extension for three year olds

Year: 1993

Objective of Development:

To measure language growth in children with and without disabilities

Population of Development: Age range (therapeutic indication):

16 to 30 months (All, Language Development Disorders)

Pediatric Population(s) in which COA has been used:

MB-CDI:
Mental Disorders; Female Urogenital Diseases and Pregnancy Complications; Otorhinolaryngologic Diseases; Nervous System Diseases; Pathological Conditions, Signs and Symptoms; Respiratory Tract Diseases; Infections; Congenital, Hereditary, and Neonatal Diseases and Abnormalities; Cardiovascular Diseases; Musculoskeletal Diseases; Stomatognathic Diseases; Chemically-Induced Disorders

COA type:

Number of Items 802

Mode of Administration:

Data Collection Mode:

Time for Completion: None identified

Response Scales: Dichotomous: True / False 3-point Likert/Likert-type Scale ranging from "Not yet" to "Often" Other: Checklist; Open-ended question

Summary of Scoring:

Available Scores:
Global score
Score by domains

Weighting:
No

Score Direction:
Higher score = Better communicative skills

Evidence of Literature Review: Yes

Evidence of Instrument Review: Yes

Evidence of Clinical or Expert Input: Yes

Evidence of concept elicitation in target patient population: Yes

Evidence of a Saturation Grid: None identified

Evidence for Selection of Data Collection Method: Yes

Recall/Observation Period:

Evidence for Selection of Reponse Options: None identified

Evidence of cognitive interviewing of draft instrument in target patient population: Yes

Evidence of Preliminary Scoring of Items and Domains: Yes

Evidence related to respondent and administrator burden: None identified

Evidence of a Conceptual Framework: None identified

Evidence of an item-tracking matrix: Yes

Evidence related to item selection: Yes

Evidence of re-testing the final version: Yes

Internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha): Yes

Evidence of internal consistency:

Test-retest Reliability (ICC):

Fenson L (1994)
- Pearson's correlation coefficient: p<0.01 Vocabulary production: 0.95 - Was a definition of stability applied to identify stable patients: No - Time frame or interval between the two administrations: Mean time frame of 1.38 months - Population/Disease: Children aged between 16 and 30 months ; n= 216

Evidence of test-retest or inter-rater reliability: Yes

Concurrent validity (convergent, divergent):

Miller JF (1995)
Correlation coefficient used: Pearson's correlation coefficient
Measure: Observed vocabulary during during an
evaluation session; Bayley Scales of Infant Development (BSID)-Expressive Language subscore
Results: Significant correlations between MB-CDI and observed vocabulary (DS group: r= 0.82; TD group: r= 0.75) and MB-CDI and BSID-Expressive Language score (DS group: r= 0.77; TD group: r= 0.70); p< 0.01 for all results Population/Disease: Children with Down Syndrome (DS)(n= 44)(age range 16 to 68 months (M = 32.59, SD = 13.16) and typically developed children (TD group)(n= 46) (age range 11 to 26 months (M = 16.93, SD = 4.33) Fenson L (1994) 1- Correlation coefficient used: Pearson's correlation coefficient - Measure: Preschool Language Scale (PLS) and PLS vocabulary subscale - Results: Significant correlations were found between the MacArthur-Bates CDI: Words and Sentences and PLS scale and subscale: p<0.05 for all results PLS: 0.40 PLS Vocabulary subscale: 0.61 - Population/Disease: Children 20 months years old ; n= 20 2- Correlation coefficient used: Pearson's correlation coefficient - Measure: Expressive One-Word Picture Vocabulary Test - Results: Significant correlation was found between the MacArthur-Bates CDI: Words and Sentences and the Expressive One-Word Picture Vocabulary Test: r= 0.73, p<0.05 - Population/Disease: Children 24 months years old ; n= 24 3- Correlation coefficient used: Pearson's correlation coefficient - Measure: Expressive One-Word Picture Vocabulary Test - Results: Significant correlation was found between the MacArthur-Bates CDI: Words and Sentences and the Expressive One-Word Picture Vocabulary Test: r= 0.85, p<0.05 - Population/Disease: Children from 39 to 49 months ; n= 20

Known-group validity:

Trauner DA (2013)
Known-groups validity:
- Measure/Groups of patients: Children who had peri-natal stroke in the Right Hemisphere (RH) or Left Hemisphere (LH) versus control: LH (n= 35), RH (n= 13), Control (n= 81)
- A priori hypotheses: Not stated
- Were hypotheses confirmed: Not applicable
- Results: ANOVA and Post-hoc test
Significant differences were found between groups: p<0.001 for all results Word produced: F= 8.65 Irregular words: F= 9.13 Mean length of 3 longest sentences: F= 8.57 Word produced subscale: LH vs Control: p= 0.001 RH vs Control: p= 0.044 Irregular words subscale: LH versus Control: p= 0.002 RH versus Control: p= 0.007 Mean length of 3 longest sentences subscale LH vs Control: p= 0.001 - Population/Disease: Patients with peri-natal stroke; n= 129 Fenson L (1994) 1- Measure/Groups of patients: Correlation between the MacArthur-Bates CDI Words and Sentences and age - A priori hypotheses: Not stated - Were hypotheses confirmed: Not applicable - Results: Pearson's correlation coefficient and ANOVA, p<0.001 for all results Pearson's correlations between age and: Word production: r= 0.68 Sentence complexity: r= 0.66 ANOVA: Word production was significantly affected by age, F(14.1.100)= 71.4 Maximum sentence length was significantly affected by age, F(14.1.100)= 45.86 Sentence complexity was significantly affected by age, F(14.1.100)= 64.2 - Population/Disease: Children from 16 to 30 months; n= 1130 2- Measure/Groups of patients: Correlation between the MacArthur-Bates CDI: Words and Sentences and the Type-token ratio (TTR) - A priori hypotheses: Not stated - Were hypotheses confirmed: Not applicable - Results: Pearson's correlation coefficient: p<0.05 Significant correlation was found between the MacArthur-Bates CDI and TTR: r= 0.67 - Population/Disease: Children 20 months old; n= 20 3- Measure/Groups of patients: Correlation between the MacArthur-Bates CDI: Words and Sentences and the Type-token ratio (TTR) - A priori hypotheses: Not stated - Were hypotheses confirmed: Not applicable - Results: Pearson's correlation coefficient: p<0.05 Significant correlation was found between the MacArthur-Bates CDI and TTR: r= 0.53 - Population/Disease: Children 24 months old; n= 24 4- Measure/Groups of patients: Correlation between the MacArthur-Bates CDI: Words and Sentences and a laboratory language sample - A priori hypotheses: Not stated - Were hypotheses confirmed: Not applicable - Results: Pearson's correlation coefficient: p<0.05 Significant correlation was found between the MacArthur-Bates CDI and laboratory language sample: r=0.85 - Population/Disease: Children from 39 to 49 months; n= 20 5- Measure/Groups of patients: Correlation between the MacArthur-Bates CDI: Words and Sentences subscales and Mean length of utterance (MLU) - A priori hypotheses: Not stated - Were hypotheses confirmed: Not applicable - Results: Pearson's correlation coefficient: p<0.05 for all results Significant correlations were found between the MacArthur-Bates CDI: Words and Sentences subscales and MLU: Sentence complexity: 0.88 Maximum sentence length: 0.77 - Population/Disease: Children 20 months old; n= 20 6- Measure/Groups of patients: Correlation between the MacArthur-Bates CDI: Words and Sentences subscales and Mean length of utterance (MLU) - A priori hypotheses: Not stated - Were hypotheses confirmed: Not applicable - Results: Pearson's correlation coefficient: p<0.05 for all results Significant correlations were found between the MacArthur-Bates CDI: Words and Sentences subscales and MLU: Sentence complexity: 0.76 Maximum sentence length: 0.74 - Population/Disease: Children 24 months old; n= 24 7- Measure/Groups of patients: Correlation between the MacArthur-Bates CDI: Words and Sentences subscales and Mean length of utterance (MLU) - A priori hypotheses: Not stated - Were hypotheses confirmed: Not applicable - Results: Pearson's correlation coefficient: p<0.05 for all results Significant correlations were found between the MacArthur-Bates CDI: Words and Sentences subscales and MLU: Sentence complexity: 0.62 Maximum sentence length: 0.60 - Population/Disease: Children from 39 to 49 months; n= 20 Spano (2014) - Measure/Groups of patients: Correlation between MacArthur WS and sleep disturbance assessed using movement monitoring (actigraphy) - A priori hypotheses: Not stated - Were hypotheses confirmed: Not applicable - Results: Significant correlation was found between sleep distruance and parent report vocabulary (r= -60; p=0.0001) - Population/Disease: Toddlers with Down Syndrome; n= 27 aged 2-5 years Scherer (1995) - Measure/Groups of patients: Correlation between MacArthur WS measures (vocabulary, mean 3 longest sentences and complexity) with observantional measures: Preschool Language Scale -3 Total words (= frequency of word use in language sample Differents words(= frequency of different word use in language sample Mean length of utterances Bound phonemes -= frequency of four regular bound phonemes - A priori hypotheses: Not stated - Were hypotheses confirmed: Not applicable - Results: Coefficient used: Not stated Significant correlation was found between the CDI toddler vocabulary and the obserational measures: r: ranged from 0.59 to 0.81 Significant correlation was found between the CDI toddler 3 mean longest sentences and the observational measures: r: ranged from 0.57 to 0.81 Significant correlation was found between the CDI toddler complexity and the observational measures: r: ranged from 0.37 to 0.70 - Population/Disease: Toddlers with or without clef palate; n= 60, aged 16 to 30 months, mean 24.5 months (for the cleft palate) and mean 23.8 months (for the cleft palate) Zampini L (2009) - Italian CDI 1. Measure/Groups of patients: Correlation between the number of words uttered during an observation session (20 min) and the Italian CDI Il Primo Vocabolario del Bambino (PVB)) - A priori hypotheses: Not stated - Were hypotheses confirmed: Not applicable - Results: Pearson's correlation coefficient Significant correlation was found between the number of words and the PVB: r= 0.73; p<0.0001) - Population/Disease: Patients with Down Syndrome ; n= 20; age= 36-month old (range: 35.28-38.18) 2. Measure/Groups of patients: Correlation between gesture token (deictic, conventional or iconic gesture) during an observation session (20 min) and the Italian CDI Il Primo Vocabolario del Bambino (PVB)) Comprehension - A priori hypotheses: Not stated - Were hypotheses confirmed: Not applicable - Results: Pearson's correlation coefficient Significant correlation was found between deictic gesture and the PVB: r= 0.21; p<0.05) Significant correlation was found between conventional gesture and the PVB: r= 0.50; p<0.05) Significant correlation was found between iconic gesture and the PVB: r= 0.45; p<0.05) - Population/Disease: Patients with Down Syndrome ; n= 20; age= 36-month old (range: 35.28-38.18)

Evidence of Translatability Assessment: None identified

Evidence related to missing data: None identified

Evidence for Selection of Recall Period: None identified

Evidence of Administration Instructions and Training Provided: Yes

Evidence of concurrent validity: Yes

Evidence of known-groups validity: Yes

Evidence of ability to detect change over time: None identified

Ability to detect change (Responsiveness):

None identified

Responder Thresholds:

None identified

Evidence of responder thresholds: None identified

Fenson L, Dale PS, Reznick JS, Bates E, Thai D. & Pethick S. Variability in early communicative development. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development. 1994; 59 (5, Serial No. 242) (Full text article: https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/1166093.pdf)

Fenson L, Dale PS, Reznick JS, Thai D, Bates E, Hartung JP, Pethick S, & Reilly JS. The MacArthur Communicative Development Inventories: User's guide and technical manual. San Diego: Singular Publishing Group. 1993

Fenson L, Resznick S, Thal D, Bates E, Hartung J, Reilly J. The MacArthur Communicative Development Inventories. San Antonio, TX: Psychological Corporation. 1993

Molinaro M, Broman AT, Rathouz PJ, Hustad KC. Longitudinal Development of Receptive Vocabulary in Children with Cerebral Palsy and Anarthria: Use of the MacArthur-Bates CDI. Dev Neurorehabil. 2020 Jul;23(5):285-293 (Full text article: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/pmid/31352864/)

Heilmann J, Ellis Weismer S, Evans J, Hollar C. Utility of the MacArthur-Bates communicative development inventory in identifying language abilities of late-talking and typically developing toddlers. Am J Speech Lang Pathol. 2005 Feb;14(1):40-51 (PubMed abstract: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15966111/)

Feldman HM, Dollaghan CA, Campbell TF, Kurs-Lasky M, Janosky JE, Paradise JL. Measurement properties of the MacArthur communicative development inventories at ages one and two years. Child Dev. 2000 Mar-Apr;71(2):310-22 (Full text article: https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/1131991.pdf)

Arriaga RI, Fenson L, Cronan T, & Pethick SJ. Scores on the MacArthur Communicative Development Inventory of Children From Low and Middle Income Levels. Applied Psycholinguistics. 1988. 19, 209-223 (abstract: https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/applied-psycholinguistics/article/abs/scores-on-the-macarthur-communicative-development-inventory-of-children-from-lowand-middleincome-families/C5AB9E2B53A6D64178FC5F0D7FCCB76C)

Miller JF, Sedey AL, Miolo G. Validity of parent report measures of vocabulary development for children with Down syndrome. J Speech Hear Res. 1995 Oct;38(5):1037-44
[Abstract: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/8558873/]

Scherer NJ, D'Antonio LL. Parent questionnaire for screening early language development in children with cleft palate. Cleft Palate Craniofac J. 1995 Jan;32(1):7-13
Full Text Article: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/7727490/

See (PubMed results: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/?term=%22MBCDI%22&sort=date&sort_order=asc)

None identified

Original: English for the USA

Translations:
Sindhi
Sasak
Samoan
Ronga
Northern Sami
Ngasa
Mandinka
Yao
Faroese for the Faroe Islands
Yiddish
Xhosa
Wolof
Vietnamese
Urdu
Turkish
Tongan
Thai
Tamil
Tagalog
Swedish
Spanish for Peru
Spanish for Mexico
Spanish for Spain
Spanish for Cuba
Spanish for Columbia
Spanish for Chile
Spanish for Argentina
Southern Sotho
Slovenian
Slovak
Shona
Setswana
Serbian
Russian
Portuguese for Mozambique
Portuguese for Portugal
Portuguese for Brazil
Polish
Persian
Norwegian
Maltese
Mandarin for Singapore
Mandarin for Taiwan
Mandarin for China
Mandarin for Malaysia
Malayalam
Malay for Malaysia
Latvian
Korean
Kriol for Sierra Leone
Kinyarwanda
Kannada
Japanese
italian
Inuktitut
Icelandic
Hungarian
Hindi
Hebrew
Greenlandic for Greenland
Greek
German for Switzerland
Greek
German for Switzerland
German for Austria
German
Galician
French for France
French for Canada
Finnish
Estonian
English for South Africa
English for Singapore
English for South Africa
English for New Zealand
English for Australia
English for the UK
Dutch
Danish
Czech
Croatian
Chichewa
Cantonese for Hong Kong
Catalan
Bulgarian
Basque
Bengali
Arabic for Tunisia
Arabic for Saudi Arabia
Arabic for Palestine
Arabic
Arabic for Kuwait
Albanian
Afrikaans

Arabic, English and French for Lebanon
Marianne Daccache, Camille Messarra, Christophe dos Santos. Les premiers mots de l’enfant libanais en contexte plurilingue : que nous apprend l’utilisation d’un compte rendu parental trilingue ?. Lexique, Presses Universitaires du Septentrion, 2020, 26, pp.7-28 (Full text article: https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-02898336/document)

English for Ireland
O’Toole, C. (2013). Using parent report to assess bilingual vocabulary acquisition: A model from Irish. In Mueller Gathercole, V. C. (Eds.), Solutions for the assessment of bilinguals (pp. 81–102). Bristol: Multilingual Matters (Abstract: https://cora.ucc.ie/handle/10468/2629)

Faroese for the Faroe Islands
Rasmussen SM, Bleses D. Faroese children’s early vocabulary acquisition: A Faroese adaptation of the MacArthur–Bates Communicative Development Inventories. University of Southern Denmark 38 (6): 641-668

French for France
Kern S. Le compte-rendu parental au service de l'évaluation de la production lexicale des enfants français entre 16 et 30 mois. Glossa, 85, 48-62. 2003 (Full text article: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/283919229_Le_compte-rendu_parental_au_service_de_l'evaluation_de_la_production_lexicale_des_enfants_francais_entre_16_et_30_mois)

Schmengler H, El-Khoury Lesueur F, Yermachenko A, Taine M, Cohen D, Peyre H, Saint-Georges C, Thierry X, Melchior M. Maternal immigrant status and signs of neurodevelopmental problems in early childhood: The French representative ELFE birth cohort. Autism Res. 2019 Dec;12(12):1845-1859 (PubMed abstract: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31373761/)

French for Canada
Trudeau N et al. Les Inventaires MacArthur-Bates du développement de la communication (IMBCD): Manuel technique et guide de l’utilisateur. Candadian Language and Literacy Research Network. 2008 (Full text article: https://eoa.umontreal.ca/wp-content/uploads/sites/32/docMacArthurBates_Manuel_MacArthur.pdf)

Hebrew for Israel
Gendler-Shalev H, Dromi E. The Hebrew Web Communicative Development Inventory (MB-CDI): Lexical Development Growth Curves. J Child Lang. 2021 Mar 19:1-17 (Full text article: https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-child-language/article/hebrew-web-communicative-development-inventory-mbcdi-lexical-development-growth-curves/80A8AFEEB4ED71E3682560A77FBD7941)

Gendler-Shalev H. The adaptation of HCDI-WG parent questionnaire to Hebrew. Unpublished MA thesis. Tel-Aviv University. 2005. [In Hebrew]

Copy of the Spanish translation can be obtained here: https://mb-cdi.stanford.edu/forms.html

The MB-CDI is available in the following sign language:
American sign language
British sign language
Israeli sign language
Italian sign language
Spanish sign language
Turkish sign language
The MB-CDI is available in the following dialects:

Aboriginal English
Changana
English for Wales
Jamaican Creole
Kishwahili/kigiriama
Klingon
Malawian
North Australian Kriol
Romani

For more information on adaptations and translations of the MB-CDI see here: https://mb-cdi.stanford.edu/adaptations.html

Author:
Larry Fenson
Chair of Advisory Board
Department of Psychology
San Diego State University
Email: lfenson@gmail.com

Copyright:
CDI Advisory Board holds the copyright

CoU:
*With fees for academic/non profit research
*With fees for commercial/pharmaceutical companies
*The manual as well as the forms can be ordered from Brookes Publishing. For further information please contact directly Larry Fenson

MacArthur Bates CDI website: https://mb-cdi.stanford.edu/about.html

MB-CDI-WS available in Fenson et al. 1994
https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/1166093.pdf