The revision decision: is change always good? A comparison of CELF-R and CELF-3 test scores in children with language impairment, focal brain damage, and typical development.
OBJECTIVE
The Clinical Evaluation of Language Fundamentals (CELF) is a widely used, comprehensive test battery that assesses language in school-age children and adolescents. The CELF-R (E. Semel, E. H. Wiig, & W. Secord, 1987) was updated to the CELF-3 (E. Semel, E. H. Wiig, & W. A. Secord, 1995) in 1995. The goal of the present study was to compare scores and evaluate the diagnostic utility of the CELF-R and CELF-3 in 2 clinical populations and a typically developing control group.


METHODS
The present study compared CELF-R and CELF-3 test scores of 107 children with language impairment (LI), 54 children with early focal brain damage (FL), and 90 controls.


RESULTS
All 3 groups demonstrated significantly better performance on the CELF-3 than on the CELF-R. LI children scored in the moderately-to-severely impaired range on the CELF-R, but in the mildly-to-moderately impaired range on the CELF-3. FL children went from being mildly-to-moderately impaired on the CELF-R to within normal limits on the CELF-3. Controls went from the average range on the CELF-R to the high average range on the CELF-3.


CONCLUSIONS
This study is important for professionals who administer language tests and/or use language testing results to recommend appropriate school placements, additional services, and/or interventions. Although psychometric tests are frequently revised, it is not always the case that a revised version has improved diagnostic utility.
Ballantyne
Angela O
AO
University of California, San Diego, Department of Neurosciences, 9500 Gilman Drive, #0935, La Jolla, CA 92093-0935, USA. aballant@crl.ucsd.edu
Spilkin
Amy M
AM
Trauner
Doris A
DA
D001076:Aptitude; D001925:Brain Damage, Chronic / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000628:therapy; D002648:Child; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004519:Education, Special; D004608:Eligibility Determination; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007805:Language Development Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000628:therapy; D007807:Language Tests / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D011594:Psychometrics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D014825:Vocabulary