Claudia Schabes, M.S., CCC-SLP
Doctoral Student
University of Wisconsin-Madison
Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders
Research in Developmental Disabilities and Language Lab (RIDDLL)
Measurement Considerations for Young Children with Down Syndrome
Young children with Down syndrome (DS) present with complex profiles of developmental strengths and weaknesses. For clinicians and researchers who work with young children with DS, this complexity presents a challenge: our assessment tools may capture only certain aspects of communication and behavior, while the broader DS profile can also shape how those measures are expressed and interpreted. In this seminar, I will present two studies examining two commonly used assessment tools, the Language Environment Analysis (LENA) device and the Childhood Autism Rating Scale (CARS). The LENA, an audio recorder that automatically generates measures of adult and child communication, was worn by 38 preschoolers with DS across four days over the course of four weeks. This longitudinal design allowed us to examine the test-retest reliability of three common LENA metrics using intraclass correlation coefficients. The CARS is an observational assessment used to characterize autistic traits and is frequently used with individuals with DS. CARS item-level performance was examined using descriptive statistics and ordinal regression in a sample of 53 preschoolers with DS. Together, these studies highlight how the complex communication and behavioral profile of DS shapes both the measurement itself and the meaning we assign to it.
Funding: This work was supported by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Grants R21HD111807 (awarded to Audra Sterling and Lizbeth Finestack) and P50HD105353 (awarded to the Waisman Center). The presented research was also supported by a Vilas Life Cycle Award (awarded to Audra Sterling) and start-up funds from the University of Wisconsin-Madison (awarded to Audra Sterling).