Concurrent validity of caregiver/parent report measures of language for children who are learning both English and Spanish.
The validity of two analogous caregiver/parent report measures of early language development in young children who are learning both English and Spanish is examined. Caregiver/parent report indices of vocabulary production and grammar were obtained for 26 children using the MacArthur Communicative Development Inventory: Words & Sentences (CDI; Fenson et al., 1994) and the Inventario del Desarrollo de Habilidades Comunicativas: Palabras y Enunciados (IDHC; Jackson-Maldonado, Bates, & Thal, 1992). Scores were significantly correlated with analogous laboratory measures in both English and Spanish, including a real-object naming task and spontaneous language use during free-play. The findings offer evidence that the CDI and IDHC provide valid assessments of early language milestones in young English- and Spanish-speaking children. Factors that may influence the validity of these tools for use with this population are also discussed.
Marchman
Virginia A
VA
School of Human Development, The University of Texas at Dallas, Richardson 75083-0688, USA. vamarch@utdallas.edu
Martine-Sussmann
Carmen
C
D001290:Attitude; D017028:Caregivers; D002663:Child Language; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D019303:Multilingualism; D010290:Parents; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014825:Vocabulary