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Developmental inventories using illiterate parents as informants: Communicative Development Inventory (CDI) adaptation for two Kenyan languages

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 August 2014

K. J. ALCOCK ,
K. RIMBA ,
P. HOLDING ,
P. KITSAO-WEKULO ,
A. ABUBAKAR  and
C. R. J. C. NEWTON
K. J. ALCOCK*
Affiliation:
Lancaster University, UK
K. RIMBA
Affiliation:
Centre for Geographic Medicine-Coast, Kenya Medical Research Institute, Kilifi, Kenya
P. HOLDING
Affiliation:
Centre for Geographic Medicine-Coast, Kenya Medical Research Institute, Kilifi, Kenya, and International Centre for Behavioural Studies, Kenya
P. KITSAO-WEKULO
Affiliation:
International Centre for Behavioural Studies, Kenya and University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa
A. ABUBAKAR
Affiliation:
Centre for Geographic Medicine-Coast, Kenya Medical Research Institute, Kilifi, Kenya and University of Tilburg, the Netherlands
C. R. J. C. NEWTON
Affiliation:
Centre for Geographic Medicine-Coast, Kenya Medical Research Institute, Kilifi, Kenya and Institute of Child Health, London, UK
*
*Address for correspondence: K. J. Alcock, Department of Psychology, University of Lancaster, Fylde College, Lancaster LA1 4YF, UK. tel: +44-1524-593833; fax: +44-1524-593744; e-mail: [email protected]
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Abstract

Communicative Development Inventories (CDIs, parent-completed language development checklists) are a helpful tool to assess language in children who are unused to interaction with unfamiliar adults. Generally, CDIs are completed in written form, but in developing country settings parents may have insufficient literacy to complete them alone. We designed CDIs to assess language development in children aged 0;8 to 2;4 in two languages used in Coastal communities in Kenya. Measures of vocabulary, gestures, and grammatical constructions were developed using both interviews with parents from varying backgrounds, and vocabulary as well as grammatical constructions from recordings of children's spontaneous speech. The CDIs were then administered in interview format to over 300 families. Reliability and validity ranged from acceptable to excellent, supporting the use of CDIs when direct language testing is impractical, even when children have multiple caregivers and where respondents have low literacy levels.

Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Child Language , Volume 42 , Issue 4 , July 2015 , pp. 763 - 785
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Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2014 

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