Predicting outcomes of children referred for autism using the MacArthur-Bates Communicative Development Inventory.
OBJECTIVE
Autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are characterized by early impairments in language and related social communication skills. This investigation explored whether scores on the MacArthur-Bates Communicative Development Inventory (CDI) at ages 2 and 3 years predict outcome at age 9 years in children with ASD and developmental delay (DD).


METHODS
Sixty-two children referred for possible autism at age 2 years, and 19 children with DD, were followed to age 9 years. Vocabulary, prespeech, and gestures scores on CDIs administered at ages 2 and 3 years were used to predict follow-up IQ, language, adaptive skills, and scores on diagnostic measures.


RESULTS
CDI scores at ages 2 and 3 did not predict outcome for the DD group. For the ASD sample, CDI receptive and expressive language and late gestures at ages 2 and 3 years predicted a number of follow-up variables, although scores at age 3 years were generally more predictive than scores at age 2 years.


CONCLUSIONS
The CDI yielded scores that were predictive of outcome, suggesting that this parent report measure may be a quick and informative assessment of early verbal and nonverbal skills in children with ASD.
Luyster
Rhiannon
R
University of Michigan Autism and Communication Disorders Center, 1111 East Catherine Street, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA. rluyster@umich.edu
Qiu
Shanping
S
Lopez
Kristina
K
Lord
Catherine
C
D001321:Autistic Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003142:Communication; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007806:Language Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology*; D008297:Male; D011446:Prospective Studies