Unidade de Investigación das condutas de risco e os trastornos do desenvolvemento.
- FACULTADE DE PSICOLOXÍA Universidade de Santiago de Compostela (USC)
- Campus Universitario Sur, s/n.
- 15782 Santiago de Compostela, España.
IDHC
IDHC
Communication Skills Development Inventory
The IDHC (Inventario do Desenvolvemento de Habilidades Comunicativas) is the Galician version of the Inventory of Communicative Development (Mac Arthur-Bates). This instrument takes the form of a list of words, phrases and actions representing the first communicative and linguistic behaviours of children aged between 8 and 30 months. This instrument was designed to be filled by families, allowing a quick and effective measurement of the early communicative and linguistic skills of infants and young children. At this age, parents are excellent informants of their children’s competencies.
IDHC Words and Gestures
The Galician IDHC is composed of two parts: the first, “Words and Gestures”, aimed at children between 8 and 15 months. It evaluates the initial capacity to respond to language, the comprehension of phrases in context and the comprehension and production of children’s first vocabulary, together with the ability to produce communicative gestures, participate in situations of social exchange, as well as the development of symbolic play. These latter behaviours usually precede language or are contemporary to its earliest manifestations, which is why they are considered to be important antecedents for estimating later linguistic evolution.
Words and Sentences
The second part, “Words and Sentences”, aimed at children aged 16 to 30 months, assesses the number and type of words produced by children, as well as the main developments that characterise initial grammatical development: the use of the first morphemes, the child’s ability to combine words, as well as the length and complexity of his or her first sentences. Various studies, including that carried out by our own research group, were able to confirm the importance of knowing the evolution of these abilities during early childhood, since they are interesting indicators of linguistic development during the preschool years, as well as other related abilities.
Application
The IDHC is a powerful evaluation tool, appropriate for application in both clinical and educational settings. Recently, we have also elaborated a short version, especially suitable for a first approach to the linguistic development of children in health centres and nurseries, among others.
If you are a clinical, educational or health professional and would like more information about the IHRC, please contact us.
If you are the mother or father of a child between 8 and 30 months old, and would like to know the state of your child’s linguistic and communicative development, we invite you to fill out the online questionnaire corresponding to your age. You can do so through the following links:
