The Norwegian Communicative Development Inventories: Reliability, main developmental trends and gender differences

Abstract

We are grateful to the CDI Advisory Board for permission to adapt the MacArthur-Bates Communicative Inventories to Norwegian. We thank Master of linguistics Kristin Wium for drafting the first version of the Norwegian CDI, PhD (linguistics) Janne von Koss Torkildsen, Lars Smith, and Stephen von Tetzchner, professors of psychology at the University of Oslo, for evaluating the first draft, and Masters of linguistics Eli Anne Eiesland and Laila Yvonne Henriksen for serving as COMMUNICATIVE SKILLS IN NORWEGIAN CHILDREN 2 research assistants on the norming study. We also thank the Journal Editors and two anonymous reviewers for helpful comments to this manuscript. Finally, we would like to thank the parents of the participating children for having completed the CDIreports.

Infant communicative development assessed with the European Portuguese MacArthur–Bates Communicative Development Inventories short forms

“…These findings are in accordance with findings for other languages (Bleses et al, 2008;Fenson et al, 2007;Fenson et al, 2000;Hamilton et al, 2000;Jackson-Maldonado et al, 2013;Kern, 2007;Pérez-Pereira & Resches, 2007;Simonsen et al, 2014). For vocabulary production, ceiling effects were observed only after 27 months and exclusively at the top half of the distribution, similar to trends reported in short form data for American English, Spanish and Galician.…”

Modeling the Nature of Grammar and Vocabulary Trajectories From Prekindergarten to Third Grade

“…This study provides an in-depth investigation of the growth curves of vocabulary and grammar, examines their interplay, and tests the effects of potential predictors on the trajectories, namely child gender and socioeconomic status (SES). These predictors were selected for inclusion given prior evidence in the literature that both are associated with the nature of child language development during the years of early childhood (Hoff, 2003(Hoff, , 2013Simonsen, Kristoffersen, Bleses, Wehberg, & Jørgensen, 2014). We are particularly interested in determining whether there is linear growth in these trajectories or whether, as some have theorized, there is deceleration in growth as children get older.…”

Internationally Adopted Children's Reading Comprehension in Second Grade

“…As mentioned, the variation in language outcomes may also be linked to the country of origin, the child's age at adoption (Roberts & Scott, 2009;Loman et al, 2009), pre-adoption conditions (Mason & Narad, 2005), health factors (Glennen, 2002;Tirella et al, 2006), and the abrupt change of language and culture (Hwa-Froelich & Matsuo, 2010). In addition, many children are adopted when they are between 1 and 4 years, ages when typically developed children are in the middle of their language development (Saxton, 2010;Simonsen, Kristoffersen, Bleses, Wehberg, & Jørgensen, 2014). Hence, the abrupt language shift they experience could theoretically make them more vulnerable for developmental divergence in the acquisition of a second first language.…”

“…Cognitive academic language proficiency (Cummins, 2008) is an important prerequisite for later literacy development and academic achievement (Tomblin, Zang, Buckwalter, & Catts, 2000;Simonsen et al, 2014). Both academic language skills and development of reading skills put higher demands on children's oral language competence compared to what is necessary to interact socially, and early language problems in children represent risks for later reading problems (Bishop & Snowling, 2004;Kahmi & Catts, 2012).…”

“…However, expressive vocabulary, assessed with Language 6-16 and WISC III, may also provide a measure on listening skills since expressive vocabulary skills require language comprehension. Receptive language skills are basic and previous to expressive skills (Law, 2000;Simonsen et al, 2014).…”