1. Case History of Student X
Statement of the Problem
Student X is a 5 year old Kindergarten Special Education student with a
classification of Mental Retardation with Multiply Handicapping conditions. His physical
disabilities are characterized by Spastic Cerebral Palsy which means he is very high
muscle tone (stiff) with limited mobility. Student X is non-verbal but receptively he
appears to understand familiar vocabulary that is part of his immediate environment. This
student was also evaluated by a Technology Center for the possibility of getting and IEP
(Individualized Education Plan) driven Communication Device. The device that he got
was a Tech-8 device with levels. This is a device that allows 8 verbal responses to be
recorded It has levels so overlays can be made for each level. For example: one level can
be basic generic vocabulary, level 2 can be literacy, Level 3 can be play time, Level 4 can
be gym or adaptive Physical Education, Level 5 can be math . This student has a good
receptive vocabulary so he is able to use his communication device throughout the day in
all curriculum areas. He needs to interact more with his peers and his Speech/Language
Therapist is working on this area with him. Student X also receives Occupational
Therapy and Physical Therapy this device should be used by all of his service providers.
The other Therapists don’t buy into the device but the Speech Therapist is working with
them. Student X’s communication device can be very helpful in his other therapies,
because he can express pain and needs like rolling or standing on a stander. This student
might want to stand during therapy or play ball but how would anyone know this without
the use of the device. The Speech Therapist is also working with the Educational
assistants because they are direct care and they take care of feeding and toileting needs.
They need to help this student make communicative choices in the cafeteria when the
Speech Therapist is not there. Communication during toileting is also important because
this student can use his device to communicate when his toileting needs should be
attended to. Collaboration is the key for the success of Student X now that he has been
assessed by the Speech and Language Therapist with PLS-4 and the Technology center

2. has given him a Tech-8 device all providers need to implement the use of his
communication device throughout the day.
The Assessment
The Pre-school Language scale (PLS-4) Fourth Edition Authors: Irla Lee
Zimmerman P.H.D. Violette G. Steiner, BS., and Roberta Evatt Pond M.A. was the
appropriate test to administer because the student is five years old. The Pre-school
Language scale was standardized on students that were in the age ranges of birth, 6-11
years old. The purpose of this test is to measure both Receptive and Expressive Language
skills. Administration time is 26-45 minutes, but with student X it took two days to
administer this test to student X because of his attention span and physical limitations.
This test was standardized on students from different Socio-economic and religious
backgrounds, so the test is not culturally biased. The PLS-4 makes it easy for Parents,
Teachers, Caregivers and Therapists to quantify therapy and intervention for the child.
This test is easy to administer to infants and students with disabilities because the test
uses objects and pictures that are in color.
This test is also based on new norms 1500 children with disabilities. This test
measures auditory comprehension some items measure the child’s ability to focus or
attend to a task. The majority of the test looks at the child’s ability to understand
vocabulary (picture-word or picture-phrase matching) and following directions or
commands. In the area of Expressive Communication some items focus on syntax and
semantic knowledge and some items measure the child’s ability to demonstrate
communicative competence with concepts. The child is asked if they are able to talk to
name common objects, use concepts that describe objects, express quantity, use
prepositions, grammatical markers and sentence structures that are age appropriate. Raw
scores can be converted into standard scores, Percentile ranks and age equivalent scores.
This test was standardized on a nationwide representative sample of 2400 children. Test
and retest reliability is in the .90 range and the inter-rater reliability correlation was close
to perfect.

3. The validity was established by using The PLS-3 and the Denver Clinical validity
studies with children that were classified with special needs it was also conducted to
provide evidence of the PLS-4 validity. The PLS-4 test can be used long before a child is
in pre-school and because it was standardized on children with special needs it can be
used with Student X and any other student that is classified as mentally retarded with
Physical Challenges. The results of this test helped to determine that Student X had
excellent receptive language and cognitive skills. Since this student is non-verbal it was
difficult to assess Expressive Language skills. Good receptive language skills are pre-
requisite to using an Augmentative Communication Device however. Student X was
evaluated and he did get a Tech-8 Communication device now he is able to express his
wants and needs accurately.
The PLS-4 also helped student X with his academic needs because the Special
Education teacher uses this device in all settings. The test is used during breakfast, lunch,
social studies, literacy, play time, and adaptive physical education. The Speech Therapist
works in the classroom so this helps student X communicate and use the device in all
settings. The examiner is allowed to give cues to a student during testing especially a
student like Student X because of his level of functioning. Some of the items that are
used are objects and using objects is sometimes needed for students that do not respond
to pictures because of age or cognitive abilities. Now that student X has his
communication device the PLS-4 will be re-administered to assess some of the expressive
skills that he was not able to respond to before he had a device. Student X is able to take
turns and express “my turn” during literacy lessons; he can express “turn the page”. He is
excellent at answering yes/no questions. He is able to greet and say goodbye at the
beginning and at the end of the day. Student X is also able to request and make choices
during mealtime. Students that are non-verbal should be allowed to express themselves
when being assessed by using their devices.