In 2004, the Advisory Board renamed the MacArthur Communicative Development Inventories to MacArthur-Bates Communicative Development Inventories in honor and remembrance of Elizabeth Bates who passed away in December 2003.
The work by Dr. Bates and her colleagues in the 1970s and 1980s provided the groundwork for the CDIs and she became a central contributor to the inception and subsequent expansion of the instruments in the 1990s and beyond. Her energy, enthusiasm, and remarkable insight inspired and guided her MacArthur colleagues in the development and expansion of the inventories and supporting tools.