Assessing the Communication of African American One-Year-Olds Using the Communication and Symbolic Behavior Scales

Abstract

This article describes the use of the Communication and Symbolic Behavior Scales (CSBS) to profile the communication, social, and symbolic abilities of African American 1-year-olds. The CSBS was administered to 93 African American infants at 1 year of age. Results indicated that this sample's CSBS scores were generally similar to those reported in the standardization sample with adequate levels of internal consistency for most scales. Few gender differences occurred. These data support the use of the CSBS to assess the communication skills of African American infants.

Parents' Report of Vocabulary and Grammatical Development of African American Preschoolers: Child and Environmental Associations

“…Of the 282 children in the standardization sample, ten percent were African American (Wetherby & Prizant, 1993). Our analyses of 93 African American infants at 1 year of age using the total CSBS scores also support the reliability and validity of the CSBS for an African American sample (Roberts, Medley, Swartzfager, & Neebe, 1997). The Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test-Revised (PPVT-R) assesses receptive vocabulary development and is represented by a standard score.…”

Performance of South African children on the Communication and Symbolic Behavior Scales—Developmental Profile (CSBS DP)

“…There is an emerging body of evidence to suggest that the CSBS DP may be a potentially valuable tool for detecting early communication delays in children from cultures different to the mainstream US standardization sample. Roberts et al (1997) assessed the performance of 93 Black American 1-year-olds on the Behaviour Sample of the original more detailed CSBS (Wetherby and Prizant 1993) from which the CSBS DP was developed. The participants were from families that were predominantly below poverty level, defined as being eligible for free lunch in public schools (68.8%), from single-parent homes (67.7%), and were all attending child-care programmes.…”

“…Roberts et al . () assessed the performance of 93 Black American 1‐year‐olds on the Behaviour Sample of the original more detailed CSBS (Wetherby and Prizant ) from which the CSBS DP was developed. The participants were from families that were predominantly below poverty level, defined as being eligible for free lunch in public schools (68.8%), from single‐parent homes (67.7%), and were all attending child‐care programmes.…”