Home: Sequenced Inventory of Communication Development at 14 Months

Description of Test: This test assesses the child's receptive and expressive language. (Hedrick, D. L., Prather, E. M., & Tobin, A. R. (1975). Sequenced Inventory of Communicative Development. Seattle: University of Washington Press.) To see the description of how the Sequenced Inventory of Communication Development was administered from the MALTS procedure document, move there.  To see the form on which the data was recorded, click on the appropriate image below:

Variable Names:  Variable names from this database have the prefix V1SIC. The data set has 790 test subjects and 94 variables. Data were collected and scored by the tester during the home visit at 14 months. The variables include: Test Date, Test Date (split into separate day, month, and year variables), Interviewer ID, 41 SICD Expressive scale items, 45 SICD Receptive Scale items, 2 composite variables and a comment field. A PR suffix in the variable label indicates a parental evaluation (response) of the twin's ability on that particular item.  Move there to move to the complete list of variable names from this database.

Cleaning:  The data have been examined to ensure that the values of the variables are within range. Compatibility of the problem codes with the actual databases of each test will be examined. If the twin passed the exam' variable, he should have passed the parental response' variable. Compatibility of these variables will be checked.

Composites:  The variables V1SICDE and V1SICDR are composites of other variables.

V1SICDE:
   This is an adjusted sum of the Expressive Scale items. If any item was missing, it was replaced by the mean score for that item except for items SCE25A-SCE25E. Note that the earlier versions of these data did not replace SCE6A (V1SIC1). As of this version of the data, the only excluded items are SCE25A-SCE25E.

The reasons for excluding these items from the mean substitution are:

1. These are low frequency pass items.

2. They were inconsistently given to all children.

3. Children who were given these items were likely to be at the high end of ability.

If more than 5 items were missing in the data, the composite score was entered as missing.

V1SICDR:
   This is an adjusted sum of the Receptive Scale items. If any item was missing, it was replaced by the mean score for that item except for items SCR17A-SCR17D, SCR18. The reasons for excluding these items from the means substitution are the same as noted above for the Expressive Scale items. If more than 6 items were missing in the data, the composite score was entered as missing.

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Procedure Description:

Bayley Scales of Infant Development (Mental Development Scales) and Sequenced Inventory of Communication Development

These two assessments were integrated into one procedure at 14, 20, and 24 months, a more natural and more efficient presentation for children of these ages. The Bayley consists of many tasks representative of problem solving, fine motor coordination, and expressive and receptive vocabulary. Mothers were told that the children’s best performance may depend on either her close proximity or, conversely, her absence during this assessment. Examiners proceeded with each child until a baseline and ceiling of the child’s abilities was obtained. Children who became distressed were permitted to complete testing while sitting on their mother’s lap. The Bayley Scales assessed each child’s level of general cognitive development as compared with other children of the same age.

The Sequenced Inventory of Communication Development was used to assess each child’s receptive and productive language. This included a separate Parental Report Interview in which, at a later point in the visit, mother’s were asked questions pertaining to each child’s expressive and receptive communication.