Adaptation of the MacArthur-Bates Communicative Development Inventories for Spanish Children With Down Syndrome: Validity and Reliability Data for Vocabulary

Abstract

Purpose The MacArthur-Bates Communicative Development Inventories are widely used to study early language and communicative development. We recently developed a Spanish version for children with Down syndrome (the CDI-Down) adapted to their particular profile of linguistic and communicative development. The principal aims of this study are to assess the concurrent validity and test–retest reliability of the vocabulary section of this adaptation. Method Validation for productive vocabulary (Study 1) was achieved by correlating CDI-Down scores on expressive vocabulary and measures on the basis of spontaneous speech samples ( n = 29). Validation for receptive vocabulary (Study 2) was achieved by correlating CDI-Down scores on receptive vocabulary and measures derived from language items of the Brunet-Lézine Scale (Josse, 1997; n = 70). Reliability (Study 3) was measured with a subset of parents who completed the same inventory 4 months after the original sampling ( n = 26). Results CDI-Down expressive and receptive vocabulary scores showed a significant positive relationship with their comparison measures, thereby demonstrating convergent validity. A significant positive relationship was also found between test–retest measures for productive and receptive vocabularies, thus supporting the reliability of the adaptation. Conclusion The results demonstrate that the CDI-Down is a valid and reliable tool that could be useful for parents, teachers, clinicians, and researchers.