The Capute scales: CAT/CLAMS - A pediatric assessment tool for the early detection of mental retardation and communicative disorders

The early identification of communication disorders and mental retardation necessitates an assessment measure that differentiates these two disorders in infancy and early childhood. The Cognitive Adaptive Test/Clinical Linguistic and Auditory Milestone Scale (CAT/CLAMS) was devised to diagnose global cognitive delay and language delay by evaluating language and problem-solving skills independently. It does so in an efficient and accurate manner that differentiates type and degree of delay. The use of CAT/CLAMS is well established in populations of children thought to be either delayed or at risk of delay. This article reports the use of the CAT/CLAMS for identifying children with language or cognitive delay (≤75% of expected) in a cohort of asymptomatic children with no known risk for delay. When compared with the Bayley Scales of Infant Development II, the CAT/CLAMS was effective in identifying delay. In a primary care setting, the CAT/CLAMS proved to be a practical, reliable assessment tool for identifying and quantifying delays in language and cognition in children 36 months of age or younger.