Comparison of standardized assessments for cognitive and receptive communication skills in young children with complex communication needs

This study compared estimates of receptive language development for children with complex communication needs to estimates of related skill domains. Subscores of the Battelle Developmental Inventory were compared with each other and the MacArthur Communication Developmental Inventory for 41 children with severe expressive impairments over a period of 18 months, beginning at ages 12 - 24 months. Across all ages studied, children with severe expressive impairments had better receptive language scores than expected for either their cognitive or overall developmental age equivalence scores. While receptive language measures were correlated with each other and age, scores for receptive language skills on the MacArthur were consistently more stringent than for the Battelle for this population. Implications for clinical application of these measures for children with expressive impairments are discussed.