Preliminary norms and validity for the Spanish CDI-III
Donna Jackson-Maldonado and Barbara T. Conboy
Universidad Autónoma de Querétaro, México and University of Redlands, California
SMBCDI-III DEVELOPMENT
 The Spanish MacArthur-Bates CDI-III (SMBCDI-III) is an
adaptation of both English versions but based entirely
on Spanish language development data.
 Words were selected based on low frequency of word
production at 30 months on the MBCDI-II norms as
determined by LEX and CLEX programs (Dale & Fenson, 1996;
Jorgensen et al, 2010).
 Some words from the Pan form were added and
translations of English words that are culturally and
linguistically appropriate for Spanish-speaking children
were also included.
 Some sections from the new version of the English CDIIII were included and M3L was excluded.
 New words were selected based on CHILDES databases
(Jackson-Maldonado & Thal, 1993; Diez-Itza, Snow &
from narrative language samples
(Granados, in process) and from children’s story books.
MacWhinney, 1999),
 Syntactic structures were selected based on low
frequency of production of these forms as indicated by
the databases cited above.
 The Basic Concepts sections was developed using
Mexican preschool curricula.
 A pronunciation section was added and the Speaking
Styles section was adapted from the English form.
 Two pilot studies were carried out to determine relevant
words and sentences and modifications were made.
BOYS
2.6-2.7
62
34
28
2.8-2.9
52
23
29
2.10-2.11
45
22
23
3-3.1
56
31
25
3.2-3.3
63
33
29
3.4-3.5
60
32
28
3.6-3.7
55
22
32
3.8-3.9
60
27
33
3.10-3.11
51
23
28
TOTAL
504
249
• More participants are being recruited and a full norming
analysis will be completed
Figure 1: Mean Number of Words, By Age
90
80
18
70
16
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
1
2
3
 Monolingual Spanish- speaking children being raised in
a city in Central Mexico (see Table 1)
 Socioeconomic status (SES): 195 participants had mothers
with less than a high school education and 309 had more
than a high school education
 Groups were balanced for age and SES
PARTICIPANTS - VALIDITY
 Monolingual Spanish- speaking children in Central
Mexico between 3 and 3 ½ years of age (N=22)
 Recruited through daycare and pre-school programs
INSTRUMENTS
• SPANISH MBCDI- III (has other sections)
• 100 words
• 26 sentence pairs
• The PILOT INV- III (has other sections)
• 100 words
• 12 sentence pairs
• Spanish CELF- Preschool (normed on a bilingual
sample)
• Word structures (EP), Sentence Repetition
(RO), Expressive Vocabulary (VE), Sentence Structure
(EO)
• Parental consent and General Information Forms
PROCEDURES
• Parents were contacted through day care
centers, preschools or by personal contact
• Parents were instructed in how to fill out the forms
• For the validity study, parental report forms were given in
random order and children were tested in the schools
4
5
6
7
8
VALIDITY
• We cannot determine concurrent validity of the
SMBCDI-III with the CELF-P because the
distributions of scores on the CELF-P subtests
are skewed (high percentile ranks) in this
sample. A larger sample may be needed to
capture variability.
Figure 2: Mean Number of
More Advanced Responses on Sentence
Complexity Scale, By Age
14
12
10
8
6
• Concurrent validity with the PILOT-INV and the
CELF-P sentence measures also may be weak
because there are few complex sentences on
those measures.
4
2
0
9
1
age group (2;6 to 3;11)
255
 Children who had premature birth or a history of
language, hearing or learning problems did not
participate
• Complete norming data will be available shortly.
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
age group (2;6 to 3;11)
9
RESULTS - VALIDITY
• Significant positive correlations were found between the
Sentences sections on the PILOT-INV and SMBCDI-III, r =
.542, p = .006 (Fig. 3) and for Words on the PILOT-INV and
SMBCDI-III, r = .542, p =.014 (Fig. 4).
• An item by item analysis of the Words sections showed that
10 words appeared on both the PILOT-INV and the
SMBCDI-III. Individual parents were inconsistent for the
same vocabulary items across forms: of the 10 words on
both parent report forms, there was 72% agreement (same
words checked off on both forms) (Table 2)
• More than half of the participants had scores at high
percentile ranks (most above the 83rd) on the RO and VE
subtests of the CELF-P (Table 3).
• It is not clear whether parents can fill out a
parent report that involves identifying
sentence complexity with children this age. It
may be necessary to give parents more
instructions or to use an interview format.
• Concurrent validity needs to be established with
instruments that have monolingual norming
populations and/or have been shown to be valid
for monolingual Spanish-speaking children.
• Sensitivity and specificity studies are in
progress.
 There were no significant correlations between the
SMBCDI-III Sentence or Words scores and the sentence
or word scores on the CELF-P (Figs. 5,6,7,8)
Figure 4: SMBCDI-III words to
PILOT-INV words
Figure 3: SMBCDI-III
Sentences to PILOT-INV
Sentences
14
12
10
8
6
4
2
0
0
10
20
30
SMBCDI-III Sentence Score
Figure 5: SMBCDI-III Sentences to
CELF-P Sentence Structure Score
Table 2: Item-level
agreement between words
common to the SMBCDI-III
and the PILOT-INV
WORDS ON BOTH
AGREE
CADA
80%
COMPUTADORA
60%
DINOSAURIO
85%
ESCALERA
95%
IDEA
65%
MEDIR
50%
MUEBLE
70%
NECESITAR
50%
SUS
75%
VAINILLA
85%
Table 3: CELF-P percentile scores in the
validity study sample, and percentage of
subjects who scored at high percentiles
MEASURES
Total words: SMBCDI-III
Total words: PILOT-INV
Word Structure (CELF-P) %ile (EP)
Sentence Repetition (CELF-P) %ile (RO)
Expressive Vocabulary (CELF-P) %ile (EV)
Sentence Structure (CELF-P) %ile (EO)
N
25
20
25
Min
25
21
37
Ma
x
99
100
98
Mean
65.36
72.00
72.32
SD
22.01
19.90
14.95
ABOVE
83RD
%ile
24%
25%
28%
100
80
60
40
20
0
37
100
80.62
17.74
60%
25
37
100
88.50
16.01
80%
24
37
91
74.79
16.83
54%
Percentage of more complex
sentences: SMBCDI-III
25
15
100
65.32
24.51
32%
Percentage of more complex
sentences: PILOT-INV
20
33
100
81.45
19.95
60%
20
30
SMBCDI-III Sentence Score
100
80
60
40
20
0
0
120
100
80
60
40
20
0
20
40
60
80
100
SMBCDI-III Number of Words
20
40
60
80
100
120
Number of Words - SMBCDI-III
Figure 7: SMBCDI-III Words to
CELF-P Word Structure Score
0
25
10
120
Figure 6: SMBCDI-III Sentences to
CELF-P Sentence Repetition Score
120
0
Number of Words = PILOT-INV
 Two previous Spanish versions of the CDI-III have been
developed. One only contains a checklist of words
(Mancilla-Martinez, Lesauz & Pan, 2004) and the other contains
both a word checklist and a sentence complexity
section, but is a direct translation of the English CDI-III
(the Pilot INV-III, Guiberson, 2008 a & b, & Rodriguez, 2010).
GIRLS
• Results for the sentence score do not show a significant
increase across age groups (Fig. 2)
CELF-P Sentence Repetition
Percentile
(Ezeizabarrena et al, 2011, Eriksson, 2011).
Norming study
sample
characteristics
N
• The SMBCDI-III captures development across
ages.
120
CELF-P Expressive Vocabulary
Percentile
 A new version of the English CDI- III (Fenson et al, 2007), and
parallel versions in Danish and Swedish, are currently
being developed for children between 2;6 and 3;7
years. Basque and Swedish versions are also available
Table 1:
AGE GROUP
NORMS
PILOT-INV Sentence Score
 There is a need for an upward extension of these
Spanish forms, for both research and clinical use.
PARTICIPANTS - NORMS
• Preliminary normative data show a significant increase in
the word score with age (Fig. 1) F(8,495)= 5.42, p <
.0001, ηp2 = .081
CELF-P Sentence Structure
Percentile
Maldonado et al, 2003, Jackson-Maldonado, Marchman, Fernald in press).
• To evaluate concurrent validity by comparing: the MBCDIIII, Pilot INV-III and CELF Preschool-2 Spanish (Wiig, Secord, &
Semel, 2009)
CONCLUSIONS
CELF-P Word Structure
Percentile
 The MacArthur-Bates Communicative Development
Inventories (MBCDIs) are parental report instruments.
The Spanish MBCDI-I and II long and short forms have
norms, validity and reliability established for typically
developing children between 8 and 30 months (Jackson-
• To present preliminary norming data from the Spanish
MBCDI-III for the words and sentences sections
RESULTS - NORMS
mean sentence score
 This presentation reports on the development of the
Spanish MacArthur- Bates CDI- III (SMBCDI- III), which
is an adaptation (not a translation) of other forms
designed for children from 2;7 to 3;11 years.
GOALS OF THIS RESEARCH
mean number words
INTRODUCTION
120
100
80
60
40
20
0
0
10
20
30
SMBCDI-III Sentence Score
Figure 8: SMBCDI-III Words to
CELF-P Expressive Vocabulary
Score
120
100
80
60
40
20
0
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
SMBCDI-III Number of Words
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Funding for this project was made available by the CDI
Advisory Board.
Special thanks to Ma Lourdes Martínez Nieto, Morgan Evatt
and Jesús Herrera for data collection and entry.