ORONO – Parents get excited over the first words uttered by their child. The first “mama” or “papa” can bring wonder and delight. But those early steps at communication may be more than a cause for celebration. They can be a window on how a child is developing.

University of Maine researchers are offering parents a chance to get a glimpse of their child’s development by participating in the Early Language Project, a joint project of UMaine and the Trefoil Corp. of Orono.

Alan Cobo-Lewis, associate professor of psychology, is conducting the project to evaluate a computerized version of the MacArthur Communicative Development Inventories, or CDI, a nationally used child language development test.

The CDI is based on parents’ observations of what their child says and understands. It provides an estimate of how a child’s language skills compare to what’s expected for a child of a given age. A significant lag in language skills can indicate a developmental delay that can affect a child’s social interactions and school performance.

Cobo-Lewis and Bonnie Blagojevic, a research technician in UMaine’s Center for Community Inclusion, are seeking at least 98 parent volunteers to complete the test. Sessions will last about two hours and be held in Corbett Hall on the UMaine campus. Volunteers will receive $50 compensation.

The CDI is normally completed with pencil and paper, but Cobo-Lewis has created a computer adaptation with assistance from Curtis Meadow and George Markowsky at Trefoil, and members of an international CDI advisory board. Meadow is a part-time instructor in computer science, and Markowsky is chairman of the UMaine computer science and math departments.

There is no national policy on monitoring young children’s language skills, according to Larry Fenson, a professor at San Diego State University and one of the developers of CDI. Using a variety of approaches, some states have begun to screen children as early as 2 years old. The CDI is used for both academic research and clinical diagnostic purposes.

“The idea of computerized adaptive testing is first of all, to make the tests shorter. By focusing on questions that are relevant to one child, the computer doesn’t have to administer all of the items on the test,” says Cobo-Lewis.

The paper-and-pencil test requires parents to review 493 words for infants ages 8 to 16 months, and 797 words for toddlers ages 15 to 30 months, but the computerized test usually can be completed with 15 to 24 words for infants and 30 to 40 for toddlers.

The difference, Cobo-Lewis explains, stems from the ability of the computer program to calculate language level on the basis of each successive word. That calculation is done with reference to a standardized database of test results from about 1,600 children.

Parents who want to participate may contact Blagojevic at 581-3849 or via e-mail, earlylanguageproject@umit.maine.edu. Blagojevic will conduct initial interviews by phone. Information about the project is available at www.umaine.edu/language.