Preliminary evaluation of the Cognitive and Linguistic Scale: a measure to assess recovery in inpatient rehabilitation following pediatric brain injury.
OBJECTIVE
A preliminary investigation of the psychometric properties of the Cognitive and Linguistic Scale (CALS), a measure of cognitive and linguistic recovery following brain injury in children and adolescents.


METHODS
One hundred children and adolescents (aged 2-19 years) with acquired or traumatic brain injury were included.


METHODS
The CALS was administered at inpatient rehabilitation admission and discharge.


RESULTS
Internal consistency and interrater reliability were high. Factor analysis revealed 2 factors (basic responding, higher-level cognitive skills). Correlations with the Functional Independence Measure for Children (WeeFIM) ranged from 0.51 to 0.89; highest correlation was between WeeFIM cognitive domain and CALS total score. CALS scores improved significantly between admission and discharge.


CONCLUSIONS
On the basis of these preliminary analyses, the CALS is a promising measure to track cognitive and linguistic recovery in children and adolescents with brain injury during inpatient rehabilitation.
Slomine
Beth
B
Department of Neuropsychology, Kennedy Krieger Institute, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA. slomine@kennedykrieger.org
Eikenberg
Janine
J
Salorio
Cynthia
C
Suskauer
Stacy
S
Trovato
Melissa
M
Christensen
James
J
D000293:Adolescent; D001930:Brain Injuries / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003071:Cognition; D005163:Factor Analysis, Statistical; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008037:Linguistics; D008297:Male; D011594:Psychometrics; D020127:Recovery of Function; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D055815:Young Adult