Communication Activities of Daily Living (CADL-2)

Communication Activities of Daily Living, Second Edition (CADL-2) assesses the functional communication skills of adults with neurogenic communication disorders. The CADL-2 is given individually in about 30 minutes and contains 50 test items that assess communication activities in seven areas: Reading, writing, and using numbers; Social interaction; Divergent communication; Contextual communication; Nonverbal communication; Sequential relationships; and Humor/metaphor/absurdity. Original CADL items that required role playing, use of an audiocassette for identification of environmental sounds, and certain props were eliminated to ease test administration and reduce total test time.

The updated norming sample included 175 adults with neurogenic communication disorders resulting primarily from left- or right-hemisphere stroke or traumatic brain injury. Level of care spanned the full continuum of acute care to subacute, long-term, home, and outpatient care. The sample was stratified to approximate the 1997 Statistical Abstract of the United States (U.S. Bureau of the Census).

Reliability coefficients were: .93 coefficient alpha, .85 test-retest, and .99 interscorer. The CADL-2 also was found to be valid as a functional communication test for adult neurogenic populations.