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The Italian Words and Sentences MB-CDI: normative data and concordance between complete and short forms

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 February 2019

Pasquale RINALDI Open the ORCID record for Pasquale RINALDI [Opens in a new window] ,
Patrizio PASQUALETTI ,
Silvia STEFANINI ,
Arianna BELLO  and
Maria Cristina CASELLI
Pasquale RINALDI*
Affiliation:
Italian National Research Council, Institute of Cognitive Sciences and Technologies, Italy
Patrizio PASQUALETTI
Affiliation:
Italian National Research Council, Institute of Cognitive Sciences and Technologies, Italy Service of Medical Statistics and Information Technology, Fatebenefratelli Foundation for Health Research and Education, AFaR Division, Italy
Silvia STEFANINI
Affiliation:
Azienda Unità Sanitaria Locale di Parma-Distretto di Fidenza, Dipartimento di Salute Mentale e Dipendenze Patologiche- Servizio di Neuropsichiatria dell'Infanzia e dell'Adolescenza
Arianna BELLO
Affiliation:
Università degli Studi Roma Tre, Dipartimento di Scienze della Formazione
Maria Cristina CASELLI
Affiliation:
Italian National Research Council, Institute of Cognitive Sciences and Technologies, Italy
*
*Corresponding author. Italian National Research Council, Institute of Cognitive Sciences and Technologies, Italy, Via Nomentana, 56 00161 Roma. E-mail: pasquale.rinaldi@istc.cnr.it
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Abstract

One of the most popular and widely used parent report instruments for assessing early language acquisition is the MacArthur-Bates Communicative Development Inventories (MB-CDI). This study compares normative data of the Italian Words and Sentences complete form (WS-CF) and short form (WS-SF). The samples included 752 children for the WS-CF and 816 children for the WS-SF designed for children aged 18–36 months. The concordance between WS-SF and WS-CF is analyzed in a subgroup of 65 children. The results revealed strong correlations between WS-CF and WS-SF in both lexical and grammar skills as well as strong relationship between lexical and grammar skills. There was a high percentage agreement (97%) between the two forms for scores below the 10th percentile, suggesting that the two forms may be used interchangeably in order to describe vocabulary and grammatical development.

Keywords

Italian MacArthur-Bates CDIlanguage developmentvocabulary sizeearly grammar development
Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Child Language , Volume 46 , Issue 3 , May 2019 , pp. 546 - 566
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2019 

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