About the Book
The CSBS(TM) Test Kit contains the testing and scoring materials for the Communication and Symbolic Behavior Scales (CSBS(TM)), one of the best measures of early communication in children 8-24 months (or up to 72 months if developmental delays are present).
The norm-referenced, standardized CSBS(TM) uses parent interviews and naturalistic sampling procedures to collect crucial information -- not just on language skills but also on often-overlooked communicative behaviors like communicative functions, gestures, rate of communicating, positive effect, and gaze shifts. CSBS(TM) takes just 50-75 minutes for child assessment and 60-75 minutes for in-depth scoring. Backed by technical data, CSBS(TM) is compatible with most developmental curricula in use today.
The CSBS(TM) Test Kit includes:
- Caregiver Questionnaire: Caregivers complete this 15-minute qualitative questionnaire to provide background information. Their responses provide a baseline that helps professionals evaluate a child's performance.
- Behavior Sample: After the questionnaire is complete, professionals trained to assess developmentally young children conduct the videotaped Behavior Sample as the caregiver interacts with the child using a naturalistic sampling procedure. The sampling procedure uses communicative temptations, book sharing, symbolic play, language comprehension probes, and constructive play. Later, professionals use the Behavior Sample Record Form to convert results to scores on 22 five-point scales, organized in seven clusters: Communicative Function, Communicative Means -- Gestural, Communicative Means -- Vocal, Communicative Means -- Verbal, Reciprocity, Social-Affective Signaling, and Symbolic Behavior. This yields raw scores and scaled scores for the 22 scales, percentile ranks and standard scores for the seven clusters, a percentile rank and standard overall composite score, and norms by chronological age or language stage.
CSBS(TM) Manual: The manual includes technical data about CSBS(TM), plus instructions on how to administer the questionnaire and sampling procedures, plan interventions, analyze the videotaped behavior samples, and score and interpret the assessment.
- Outline Cards: These two reference cards outline sampling procedures step by step and give directions for scoring.
- Instructional Videos: These two videos demonstrate how to collect a behavior sample and convert the information into scores using the five-point scales.
Available separately or as part of the CSBS(TM) Complete Kit is the CSBS(TM) Toy Kit. It contains the familiar, action-based play materials used to entice spontaneous behavior during the Behavior Sample.
This test kit is part of CSBS(TM) a norm-referenced, standardized tool that uses parent interview and direct observation to assess infants, toddlers, and preschoolers at risk for communication delays and impairments. With 22 rating scales that accurately survey children's language skills and symbolic development, CSBS is backed by technical data and compatible with most developmental curricula in use today. Learn more about the whole CSBS system.
About the Author:
Barry M. Prizant, Ph.D., has more than 25 years experience as a clinical scholar, researcher, and consultant to young children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and related communication disabilities and their families. He is an American Speech-Language-Hearing Association fellow and is a member of the Interdisciplinary Council on Developmental and Learning Disabilities. Formerly, he was Associate Professor of Psychiatry in the Brown University Program in Medicine, Professor in the School of Communication Sciences and Disorders at Emerson College, and Advanced Post-Doctoral Fellow in Early Intervention at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He has developed family-centered programs for newly diagnosed toddlers with ASD and their families in hospital and university clinic environments. He has been an invited presenter at two State of the Science Conferences on ASD at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and has contributed to the NIH Clinical Practice Guidelines for early identification and diagnosis of ASD. Dr. Prizant's current research and clinical interests include identification and family-centered treatment of infants, toddlers, and young children who have or are at risk for sociocommunicative difficulties, including ASD.
Amy M. Wetherby, Ph.D., is Professor and former Chair of the Department of Communication Disorders at Florida State University. She received her doctorate from the University of California-San Francisco/Santa Barbara in 1982. She has had more than 20 years of clinical experience in the design and implementation of communication programs for children with autism and severe communication impairments and is an American Speech-Language-Hearing Association fellow. Dr. Wetherby's research has focused on communicative and social-cognitive aspects of language difficulties in children with autism and, more recently, on the early identification of children with communicative impairments. She has published extensively on these topics and presents regularly at national conventions. She is a co-author of the
Communication and Symbolic Behavior Scales (with Barry M. Prizant [Applied Symbolix, 1993]). She is the Executive Director of the Florida State University Center for Autism and Related Disabilities and is Project Director of U.S. Department of Education Model Demonstration Grant No. H324M980173 on early identification of communication disorders in infants and toddlers and Personnel Preparation Training Grant No. H029A10066 specializing in autism.
