This presentation provides an overview of the new Preschool Language Scale—Fifth Edition. The authors developed this test as a measure of developmental language skills that are critical to preschool and early school success. PLS-5 is not an exhaustive inventory of all important developmental communication milestones that indicate if a child is developing language normally. The language behaviors on PLS-5 are behaviors in which there are significant differences in performance between typically developing children and children who have a language disorder.
The age range for the test has been extended to age 7 so that you are able to obtain standard scores for 7 year olds who have a moderate to severe language disorder, such as children with autism or developmental delays whose communication skills are like those of a younger child.
25% new test items; 35% modified; 40% unchanged
25% of the test items are new to PLS-5
Here is an example of a new test item on PLS-5. The child is asked to think of another word that means the same thing as a target word. In this demonstration item, the child is asked to think of another word for “large.” The examiner tells the child “Look at this elephant. Elephants are really large animals. What is another word for “large.” Typical responses from children include “big” “huge” “gigantic” and “enormous.” Children with language difficulties often name the items in the picture, e.g., “elephant” , “Dumbo”, or “zoo”)
Demonstration items have been added to some of the test items to show the child what he or she is expected to do. In this demonstration item, the examiner says: “Here are three dogs. I will point to the dogs in order, from the biggest dog to the smallest dog.” Then the examiner points to the dogs in the order described. During the demonstration item, the examiner provide any prompts that help the child understand the task. For example, the examiner can say “Here is the biggest dog, so I’ll point to him first. This dog is smaller, and this one is the smallest one.”
Practice items have been added to many of the test items to ensure that the child understands the test task. Before administering the test items testing use of the possessive pronouns his and hers, the examiner shows the child this picture and says, “This is his ice cream. This is….” If the child doesn’t say “hers” or “her ice cream” the examiner can cue the child to teach the task before continuing to the test items.
Theory of Mind
Capacity to understand another’s mental state to explain and predict others’ behavior (Miller, 2006)
Child learns to take another person’s perspective
Link between Theory of Mind and communication (de Villiers & de Villiers, 2005)
Also important for comprehending narratives
This is a new test item specifically designed to assess one aspect of Theory of Mind: understanding false beliefs. [Demonstrate administration of this item.]
25% are unchanged, but 50% have been modified in some way, with new art, new administration directions, or new practice items
Approximately 25% of the PLS-5 test items have administration directions, test stimuli, and foils that are unchanged from PLS-4. For those items, art was redrawn to match the style of the new test items. For other items, administration directions were changed, sub-items were deleted or replaced, or the criterion changed
The new Articulation Screener now has visual stimuli. The child names the pictures—if he or she does not name the picture using the target word, the examiner can say the word and ask the child to repeat it. Multiple phonemes are tested in most words, so the word set is smaller.
Alex: this question came about because the clinician is mistaking the start point for a devlopmental age leve. The item isn’t at 6-8 months—it is placed at 3-5 months. The 0-8 months indicator is a Start point.
Alex: I don’t currently have an example in Spanish
PLS-4 item placements differ from PLS-5. PLS-4 items were placed at the developmental age where 60-90% of children passed the item (average: 75%). We found in our market research that when clinicians were interpreting PLS-4 test results, their assumption was that almost all children passed all items within a developmental age band when this was not the case.
For PLS-5, test items were placed at the age level where at least 75-90% of the children in the standardization sample passed the item.
Only have Review how PLS-4 items were put together; then explain PLS-5 Understands use of objects: AC 31 is 6 months later than on PLS-4. Criterion change: ¾ instead of 3/5
Most have moved to the next 6 month level. A few have moved a year.
Confidence intervals; PLS-5, like PLS-4, provides one piece of information in your assessment. The scores indicate how a child performs relative to age level peers on specific developmental tasks.
Technical information can be found in the PLS-5 Examiner’s Manual. A Technical Report will be posted on PLS-5.com at the end of June 2011)
Difference item set; Different demographics
The PLS-5 was standardized using a very diverse sample in the United States. The PLS-5 standardization sample mirrors the percentages of the population represented in the March 2008 Update of the U.S. Census for race and ethnicity for children birth through 7 years, 11 months. These percentages represent a significant shift in demographics from the PLS-4 standardization sample in 2002. Minority populations now comprise 45% of the standardization sample.
There have also been significant changes in the U.S. population in the level of education of children’s primary caregivers since data was collected in 2002. Overall, the population is becoming more educated, with a higher percentage of young children’s caregivers completing a college degree.
consultants with expertise in bilingual language acquisition advised development staff on how best to address items that may elicit responses with lexical and/or regional variations, avoid culturally and/or linguistically biased items, and incorporate dual language scoring into the PLS–5 Spanish assessment
Because more information was added to the Examiner’s Manual about special populations, administration, and scoring, the book became too large and heavy to include everything in it. The PLS-5 has separate Examiner’s and Administration Directions Manuals. You can collect the manipulatives on your own or purchase a PLS-5 manipulatives kit. The bear is plastic so that it can be cleaned after each use.
Children in the US are diagnosed at -1, -1.5, and -2 SDs below the mean, so children in the study were diagnosed at any of these different levels. For example, at -1.5 sds, a child in the study diagnosed by a clinician at -2 SDs would not be captured by PLS with a cutoff of -1.5
