Overview
The Communication and Symbolic Behavior Scales (CSBS; Wetherby & Prizant, 2003) is an individually-administered, norm-referenced instrument used with infants and toddlers whose functional communication age is between 6 and 24 months and for children up to 72 months who exhibit atypical development. The CSBS uses both parent interview and direct observations of natural play to collect information on communication development. This instrument surveys both communication skills and often-overlooked indicators of symbolic development, including gestures, facial expressions, and play behaviors. A videotaped Behavior Sample is evaluated during a caregiver-child naturalistic play interaction. Twenty-two scales are organized into seven clusters: Communicative Function, Communicative Means- Gestural, Communicative Means- Vocal, Communicative Means- Verbal, Reciprocity, Social-Affective Signaling, and Symbolic Behavior. An overall composite score is also yielded.
The CSBS Developmental Profile (CSBS-DP) is derived from the CSBS and is a screening tool for communicative behavior and symbolic development. It helps determine the communicative competence (use of eye gaze, gestures, sounds, words, understanding, and play) of young children The CSBS DP may be used as a screening tool, a norm-referenced assessment, or a progress indicator. It measures the following seven language predictors in young children: Emotion and Eye Gaze, Gestures, Communication, Sounds, Words, Understanding, and Object Use. In addition, the CSBS Infant-Toddler Checklist is a free screening instrument that can help determine whether developmental evaluation is warranted. A total score is obtained and compared to a “cutoff score” that yields a descriptor of “concern” or “no concern.”
Summary
Age: 6-24 month-old functional communication age; up to 6 years old if atypical development
Time to Administer: 50-75 minutes for child assessment; 60-75 minutes for in-depth scoring
Method of Administration: Individually administered, norm-referenced instrument designed to assess communication development.
Screening tool (CSBS DP) is also available
Yields standard scores for the clusters scaled scores for the subtests, percentile ranks
Subscales: Overall Composite Score
Clusters: Communicative Function, Communicative Means- Gestural, Communicative Means- Vocal, Communicative Means- Verbal, Reciprocity, Social-Affective Signaling, Symbolic Behavior
Autism Related Research
None found. However, With regard to the CSBS Developmental Profile (CSBS-DP; derived from the CSBS), validity and reliability of the three measures of this measure was evaluated among 603 children between 6 and 24 months old, wherein Allen and colleagues (2002) found moderate to large correlations between all three components and language outcomes at two years older. Moreover, these authors found that the three composites were a significant predictor of receptive and expressive language outcomes, and they concluded that the CSBS DP could be used as a language/communication screening tool for young children. Also with regard to the CSBS-DP, this was found to aid primary care providers of communicative problems that could indicate ASD, LD, and DD at one-year well-checks (Pierce et al., 2011).