Reliability of Computerized Language Analysis (CLAN) to Evaluate Grammatical Skills of Individuals with DS or FXS

Abstract

Developmental Sentence Scoring (DSS) and the Index of Productive Syntax (IPSyn) provide complex information about child language profiles, but are time consuming to score by hand. Computerized Language Analysis (CLAN) is a software that automatically scores these measures based on a transcribed language sample. However, research on the reliability of CLAN to accurately score these measures is limited. The current study compares hand-scored DSS and IPSyn data with CLAN scoring to determine CLAN’s reliability in scoring these measures. Data was extracted from language samples completed by 36 adolescents and young adults with Down syndrome, 20 adolescents and young adults with fragile X syndrome, and 21 typically developing children. Clinicians and researchers should consider using CLAN as a time-efficient tool to derive IPSyn measures for evaluation, treatment planning, and research. CLAN scoring of DSS is less reliable, and only be recommended after CLAN updates demonstrate more accurate scoring of DSS sub-scores.