Download the Checklist

The Checklist and accompanying scoring sheets are available in PDF format (378K), which requires Adobe's free Acrobat Reader for viewing. If Reader is not already installed on your computer, you may download it for free at the Adobe web site.

Scoring the Checklist Quickly and Accurately

After the Infant-Toddler Checklist has been completed by a parent or other caregiver, it should be scored by a health care or child care service provider.

• For the questions that parents answer by responding "Not Yet," "Sometimes," or "Often," give credit of 0 points for items checked "Not Yet," 1 point for items checked "Sometimes," or 2 points for items checked "Often."
  
  
• For items that require selecting a number range as the answer, give credit of 0 points for items checked "None" and 1 to 4 points for items containing numbered choices. For example, for item 16, give credit of 0 points for "None," 1 point for "1 or 2," 2 points for "3 or 4," 3 points for "5 to 8," and 4 points for "over 8."

The 24 questions are grouped into categories, called Clusters. Total the items in each Cluster to yield seven individual Cluster scores; you can write these totals on the Checklist just to the right of each Cluster's items. Next, transfer these totals to the Infant-Toddler Checklist: Screening Record. The Screening Record groups the Clusters into larger categories, called Composites. Add the individual Clusters to yield the three Composite scores for Social, Speech, and Symbolic, and then total the three Composites for a grand Total.

Maximum possible scores for each Composite and the Total are:

Interpreting Checklist Results

What do the raw scores of the CSBS DP™ Infant-Toddler Checklist tell you about a child? Referring to the table of cut-off scores downloaded with the Checklist, you can quickly ascertain if the child is falling in a range of "concern" or "no concern."

The cut-offs for the Composite and Total scores have been derived from the CSBS DP™ norms based on performance of at least 1.25 standard deviations below the mean, which is the bottom 10th percentile. If the Social Composite, Symbolic Composite, OR the Total Score is in the "concern" range, a child should be referred for a developmental evaluation. If only the Speech Composite is in the "concern" range, a child should be monitored carefully and if still in the "concern" range when the Checklist is re-administered in 3 months, this child should be referred for a developmental evaluation.

While the cut-offs give you a quick reading on a child's developmental progress, you will want to refer to the CSBS DP™ Manual, First Normed Edition. It includes the tables required to complete the Screening Record with the corresponding standard scores and percentiles for the child's raw Composite and Total scores. Scoring and interpretation can also be simplified by using the CSBS DP™ Infant-Toddler Checklist Scoring Software.

Because the Checklist process is based on parent report, it is possible for the caregiver to overestimate or underestimate the child's abilities. Therefore, this tool should be used along with a brief observation of the child by a health care or child care service provider. The Checklist should only be used to decide that further information or an evaluation is needed. Children who have scores in the concern range on any Composite or the Total score may have specific language impairments, hearing impairments, more general developmental delays, or autism spectrum disorders. Or, with further development, they may only have speech impairments or may catch up on their own.

Early intervention research emphasizes the notion of multiple risk factors, and therefore a child's scores on this Checklist need to be considered in relation to other known biological or environmental and protective risk factors. Clinical judgment should be used in making decisions about the need for further evaluation with these cut-offs as guidelines. Remember that the Checklist is not meant for differential diagnosis.

The Checklist should be used about every 3 months between 6 and 24 months, because new communication skills are emerging each month.

Notifying Parents

We find that many parents already have concerns about their child, especially as their child is approaching about 18 months of age and is behind in language development. Any time a Checklist is administered, parents should be given a written report, in letter format, letting them know if current communication skills are as expected or if their child should be referred for a developmental evaluation. A sample letter for a child who has fallen in the "concern" range (and shows alternative wording when a child is not in a "concern" range) is included in the Manual. Such letters can be generated automatically with the CSBS DP™ Infant-Toddler Checklist Scoring Software.

Computer Scoring of the Checklist

An optional scoring CD-ROM for the CSBS DP™ Infant-Toddler Checklist makes scoring the Checklist even easier. Simply input the child's name, date of birth, and date the Checklist was filled out, and use a menu to select the responses to the 24 Checklist questions. The program calculates the child's chronological age, tallies the raw scores, and locates the corresponding standard scores and percentiles for the Cluster scores, Composite scores, and the Total Score derived from the norms reported in the CSBS DP™ Manual.

Thus, you arrive at more precise scores (and in less time) than you can achieve by relying on the cut-off scores downloaded with the Checklist. The CD-ROM also allows you to generate a unique copy of the Infant-Toddler Checklist: Screening Record, with raw scores, standard scores, and percentiles for each child's health record, as well as a report letter for families that summarizes the screening results and comments on future action as appropriate.