Narratives validate Communicative Development Inventories

The study explores the criterion-related validity of the Swedish version of the Communicative Development Inventories-Word & Sentences (SECDI-W&S). In two follow-up procedures. SECDI-W&S was used to assess vocabulary and gram mar skills in 32 children at ages 1;10 or 2;4. At the first follow-up. 14 m onths later (at ages 3:0 or 3;6). two grammar tasks from the SECDI-W&S and one narrative task (frog story) were given to 27 children. Predictive valid ity ranged from .50 to .60 for most assessed skills over the 14-month perio d, whereas concurrent validity scores at ages 3;0 or 3:6 ranged from .48 to .70. The second follow-up at 26 months (at ages 1;0 or 4;6) was conducted with the narrative task only. predictive validity from ages 1:10 or 2:3 for the second follow-up remained high for some of the measures: however, for other measures it diminished, which could be partly accounted for by ceilin g effects, The overall results confirm that the criterion-related validity of the SECDI is sound.