Developing a general outcome measure of growth in the expressive communication of infants and toddlers

Proficiency in expressive communication is an important outcome in early ch ildhood necessary for cognitive and social development. The development of an experimental measure for assessing growth in expressive communication in children from birth to 3 years of age is described. The measure was develo ped using general outcome measurement (GOM) procedures (Deno, 1997; Fuchs & Deno, 1991). GOMs are uniquely appropriate for use in the identification o f children having difficulty acquiring a socially valid outcome, such as ex pressive communication, and evaluating the effectiveness of interventions f or these children. Results from a sample of 25 infants and toddlers assesse d once in Study I demonstrated the development and feasibility of these mea sures. Results from a sample of 50 infants and toddlers assessed monthly fo r 9 months in Study H indicated that the measure displayed adequate psychom etric properties of reliability and validity and was sensitive to growth ov er time. Implications for practice are discussed.