Improving Automatic IPSyn Coding

Purpose The Computerized Language ANalysis-Index of Productive Syntax (CLAN-IPSyn) system is designed to facilitate automatic computation of the IPSyn measure of productive child syntax. Roberts et al. (2020) conducted a thorough comparison of hand-generated and automatic scores on the Index of Productive Syntax (IPSyn) measure (Scarborough, 1990) and found a high level of error for CLAN-IPSyn. We report on the use of the Roberts et al. analysis to reduce and eliminate errors in CLAN-IPSyn, to improve its accuracy. Method Scores provided by manual and machine scoring of the 20 transcripts used in Roberts et al. (2020) were compared. Divergences in point assignment were examined and significant modifications made to the CLAN-IPSyn program to increase its accuracy. Conclusion The currently available, free version of CLAN at https://talkbank.org is now significantly more correct in terms of exemplars produced, and should assist clinicians and researchers in using the revised IPSyn (Altenberg et al. 2018).