Infant Assessment of Early Communication Risk Factors : The ISCBS (formerly ECBS)

DESCRIPTION provided by applicant Effective early intervention depends on reliable identification of risk for communication impairments as soon as possible Established infant risk factors for communication impairments include poor turn taking gestures receptive language commenting symbolic play and speech Although these risk factors can be detected by mos and reliably predict later language and social development attempts to detect similar risk factors in children mos have been unsuccessful because of extreme limitations in available assessments that typically include only items for these infantsandapos preintentional communication i e reactive or active infant communication behaviors that are not directed toward listeners There are no available normed assessments that provide comprehensive and dynamic data on infant preintentional communication and reflect evidence based predictors that discriminate infants at risk for communication impairments before months When practitioners cannot detect infant behaviors known to be associated with communication risk they cannot target early intervention to children with the greatest needs and potential for improvement If we can identify communication risk early enough we can intervene in the skills that predict later communication impairments and potentially mitigate effects of primary impairments in children and reduce the likelihood of secondary impairments that affect communication and other life skills The plan for this project is to refine and complete norming for a predictive comprehensive modality independent assessment to detect communication risk in preintentional infants months the Infant Social Communication Behavior Scales or ISCBS Phase I research by the present grant team showed that a short probe could reliably elicit preintentional communication behaviors from infantandapos s age months that represent predictors of communication risk These predictors can be reliably and validly scored and grouped into domains that correspond to behavior clusters for the leading dynamic communication assessment for toddlers the Communication and Symbolic Behavior Scales CSBS Wetherby andamp Prizant A clear prediction of communication risk could justify the early involvement of speech language pathologists for infants as well as for older children who have complex communication needs We will do final revisions of the ISCBS based on Phase I results and create nationally representative norms by administering the ISCBS to new samples of typically developing infants mos and conducting follow up assessments with these infants and a previous cohort of infants at mos for a total normative sample of children to achieve these specific aims refine the ISCBS and associated training materials to improve ease of administration and scoring confirm ISCBS items scales domains and composite that account for domains that discriminate by age and at risk disability status at three years from ISCBS infant samples and establish the reliability validity and age based norms of the scales domains and composite scores for the ISCBS in nationally representative samples of typically developing infants using correlational analyses including confirmatory factor analysis PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE We have recognized the need for detecting communication problems as early as possible so that we can start essential early communication intervention but we do not presently have assessments that provide us enough information about how communication looks different in infants under months at risk for communication disabilities The Infant Social Communication Behavior Scales ISCBS would be the first comprehensive and normed assessment of communication for infants months With this tool we could enhance our ability to provide clinical assessment and intervention to hone in on key communication skills during this period that make the greatest public health impact for infants with suspected communication risk factors We can also use the ISCBS to develop better intervention strategies for older children and adults who continue to need support with these early communication skills for longer than months and to predict effective changes in these early communication skills that vitally enhance quality of life and interaction for persons with significant communication challenges