Overview of Language Assessment

Question 1

goals of language assessment

Answer 1

• determine if child has significant impairment in form, content, and/or use
• describe deficit relative to typical developmental sequence of language acquisition
• determine how deficit will affect child’s ADLs
• use multiple methods
• describe child’s strengths and weakness in all areas (the whole child)

Question 2

review of referral/background information

Answer 2

• what is the problem in medical terms (if known)?
• how does the family describe the deficit?
• how do other professionals describe the deficit?
• how does the problem impact the client academically?
• does the problem vary in severity based on the setting?
• how does the problem impact the client socially?

Question 3

case history

Answer 3

• should highlight family’s and teacher’s primary concern
• pre-, peri-, post-natal development
• risk factors related to language
• family history of speech, language, literacy delays
• health + medical history
• education history
• previous assessment + treatment

Question 4

informal observations

Answer 4

• free play + observations made throughout the session
• unstructured conversation
• interaction with parents, siblings
• various settings, situations
• build rapport
• note interests

Question 5

free play + observations made throughout assessment

Answer 5

• child’s preferences, motivations
• child’s response to failed attempts to communicate
• examples of child’s communicative

Question 6

standardized assessments

Answer 6

specified procedure for administration, analysis to achieve uniformity

Question 7

norm-referenced assessments

Answer 7

provide means of comparing child’s core to standard/norm

Question 8

NR assessments: potential pros

Answer 8

• reliable, valid
• compares child to peers that completed same assessment
• can be used to diagnose language disorder (but not alone)
• more easily understood by other, related professionals, public

Question 9

NR assessments: cons

Answer 9

• decontextualized
• formal, structured, inauthentic
• can be difficult for some kids to complete
• not useful in writing treatment objectives
• can’t always be used alone to identify a language disorder
• underestimate abilities of children who are culturally and linguistically diverse

Question 10

standardized, NR tests should include the following properties

Answer 10

• clear administration and scoring criteria
• reliability
• validity
• characteristics of the normative sample
• diagnostic accuracy

Question 11

reliability

Answer 11

how consistent and accurate are the results of the instruments?

Question 12

validity

Answer 12

does it measure what it’s supposed to measure?

Question 13

characteristics of the normative sample

Answer 13

• overall size of the sample
• number of children who are like the subject who will be given the test
• represents or includes children who are like the subject wo will be given the test (ethnicity, race, gender, SES language status, geographic location, rural/urban/suburban)

Question 14

diagnostic accuracy

Answer 14

• sensitivity
• specificity
• 90% accuracy = good
• 80%-90% = fair
• <80% = the test should not be used

Question 15

sensitivity

Answer 15

does the test accurately identify individuals with disorders s/l skills?

Question 16

specificity

Answer 16

does the test accurately identify individuals with typical s/l skills?

Question 17

goal of cut scores

Answer 17

balanced sensitivity and specificity (and/or PPP and NPP–probability that the test will accurately ID those with/without LD)

Question 18

standard scores

Answer 18

• derived from the raw score
• a type of norm-referenced score

Question 19

standard scores: range of scores

Answer 19

• mean of 100
• SD of 15
• 115-85 = WNL
• 84-70 = mild
• 69-55 = moderate
• 54 or < = severe

Question 20

percentile ranks

Answer 20

tells what proportion of the normative population scored lower than the child who took the test

Question 21

equivalent scores (age, grade)

Answer 21

• don’t take into consideration the range of normal performance for individuals whose scores fall within the average range
• compare child’s performance to age group or specific grade level that has an average score that is in the same range (performance isn’t compared with others in a similar population)
• AE scores are unevenly distributed + skewed, and half of the examinees of a given age will earn an AE score that is above their CA, and half below

Question 22

criterion-referenced tests

Answer 22

• don’t compare an individual’s performance to anyone else’s
• not norm-referenced, but most are standardized
• student performance reported based on number and percent correct, speed, and quality
• obtain baseline score and then re-administer at a later date
• more helpful in setting treatment goals than NR tests
• can more easily be modified for cultural/dialectal differences
• less structured and less decontextualized compared to NR tests
• can also be clinician-developed, informal

Question 23

purpose of criterion-referenced tests

Answer 23

• ID what a child can and cannot do compared to a predefined criterion
• how does the child compare to an expected level of performance?
• compared to own performance at different times

Question 24

dynamic assessment

Answer 24

• ZPD
• allows you to measure language-learning ability
• typical development
• atypical development (disorder)
• allows us to determine language difference vs. disorder

Question 25

dynamic assessment: allows you to measure language-learning ability

Answer 25

• determine the size of the child’s ZPD
• does the child perform poorly because they’re unfamiliar with the tasks?
• would just a little bit of extra cueing/support allow the student to experience success on the task?

Question 26

dynamic assessment: typical development

Answer 26

• performs below what is expected during testing
• performs within normal limits after mediated learning

Question 27

dynamic assessment: atypical development (disorder)

Answer 27

• performs below what is expected during testing
• continues to perform below normal limits even after mediated learning