ASSESSMENT GUIDELINES

SCHOOL AGE LANGUAGE ASSESSMENT

STEPS:

Source: Assessment in Speech-Language Pathology: A Resource Manual by Julie G. McAfee and Kenneth Shipley

  • EXPRESSIVE

    • use gestures or signs to communicate

    • nonspeech vocalizations

    • meaningful vocalizations

    • imitate sounds

    • imitate words

    • spontaneously produce words

    • communicate intent

    • name familiar objects

    • use word combinations

    RECEPTIVE

    • respond to verbal stimulation (answer to their name, respond to inhibitory words)

    • use eye contact

    • follow simple commands

    • point to named objects in a picture book or in the environment

    • follow simple directions

    PLAY

    • use objects and toys appropriately

    PRAGMATIC

    • appropriate back-and-forth communicative exchanges

  • Description text goes here

  • Boehm Test of Basic Concepts (Boehm-3) (Boehm, 2001)

    CELF-5 Screening Test (Wiig, Semel, & Secord, 2013)

    Fluharty Preschool Speech and Language Screening Test (2nd ed.) (Fluharty, 2000)

    Kindergarten Language Screening Test (KLST-2) (Gauthier & Madison, 1998)

  • Battelle Developmental Inventory (BDI-2) (Newborg, 2004)

    Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development (Bayley-III) (Bayley, 2005)

    Preschool Language Scales (PLS-5) (Zimmerman, Steiner, & Evatt-Pond, 2011)

    Receptive-Expressive Emergent Language Test (REEL-3) (Bzoch, League, & Brown, 2003)

  • Sample Tasks

    • SLAM Cards

    • Form of language

    • Understanding of semantic intent

    • Language use

    • Rate of speaking

    • Sequencing

    adapted from Owens, 1995

    Systematic Analysis of Language Transcripts (SALT) (Miller, 2018)

    The CHILDES Project: Tools for Analyzing Talk (MacWhinney, 2000)

  • MLU

    morphemes/utterances = MLU

  • Bottom line: look for variety in vocabulary

    Semantic Relations:

    Nomination

    Nonexistence

    Agent + object

    Agent + action

    Action + object

    Action + indirect object

    Recurrence

    Cessation

    Action + locative

    Entity + locative

    Possessor + possession

    Attribution

    Agent + action + object

    Agent + action + locative

    Rejection

    Denial

    Instrumental

    Notice

  • Analysis of:

    Parts of Speech

    • noun

    • pronoun

    • adjective

    • verb

    • adverb

    • preposition

    • conjunction

    • interjection

    Phrases & Clauses

    Phases

    • Noun phrase

    • Verb phrase

    • Prepositional phrase

    • Adjective phrase

    Clauses

    • Main clause or independent clause

    • Subordinate clause or dependent clause

    Sentences

    • Simple sentence

    • Compound sentence

    • Complex sentence

    • Compound-complex sentence

    Sentence Types

    • declarative

    • interrogative

    • imperative

    • exclamatory

    • respond to social greetings

    • make social greeting

    • initiate conversations

    • take conversational turns

    • maintain topics

    • shift to appropriate topics

    • ask for clarification of content

    • understand the perspective of someone else

    • use language that is appropriate for the audience and situation

    • logically tell a story

    • describe an experience

    • use socially appropriate eye contact

    • use socially appropriate gestures

    • use socially appropriate facial expressions

    • maintain socially appropriate personal space

  • ability to sequence events

    use appropriate vocabulary

    follow rules of sentence structure

    present the story in a cohesive and logical fashion