1. Teaching Students with Language
and Communication Disabilities
By S. Jay Kuder
CHAPTER 13
2. Assessing Language and
Communication
By the end of this chapter students should be able to:
• 1. List the purposes of language assessment.
• 2. Understand what should be included in a comprehensive
assessment of language and
• how to make assessment decisions.
• 3. List some formal tests for assessing language skills.
• 4. Describe some informal techniques for language
assessment.
• 5. Explain how to gather and analyze a language sample.
• 6. Describe some informal techniques for assessing specific
language skills.
• 7. Understand classroom-based techniques for language
assessment, including response-to-intervention.
3. Role as a Special Educator
• Many times you will be the first line of
contact for general classroom teachers
and parents who have concerns about
their children.
– Be familiar with ways to assess the language
skills of students at your school… SLPs will
be the “official” guardians of the speech
domain… but you can and should be a part of
the process.
4. Purposes of Language Assessment
• 1. Identification
• 2. Evaluation
• 3. Intervention
• 4. Functional Outcomes
5. Identifying Children with
Language Disorders
• Two-Step Process
– 1. Screening
• Problems with screeners?
– Overidentify/Underidentify
– 2. Determining Nature of the Disability
• Complete language evaluation
• Team established to review and create an
action plan for the student based on results
gathered from several SOURCES
6. Assessment for Intervention
• This is a task often forgotten because of the time
involved…
• How can you truly provide appropriate
interventions if you do not know HOW a child
learns?
• How can you prove an intervention is working if
you cannot see a GENERALIZATION of results?
• VIDEO: A Day in the Life of SLP’s
7. Core of Language Assessment
• 1. Phonology
• 2. Morphology
• 3. Syntax
• 4. Semantics
• 5. Pragmatics
8. Phonology
• Looking for the production of speech
SOUNDS
– 1. Intelligibility
– 2. Accuracy of Sound Production
– Examples of Phonological Processing:
• A. Detection of rhyme
• B. Division of words into sounds
• C. Detection of Beginning and Ending Sounds
9. Morphology
• Important to determine what word endings
and prefixes the child is using
– Can the child use the morpheme (part of a
word) correctly when is it a nonsense word?
– Example: This is a wug. Now there are
two of them. There are two
_____________.
10. Syntax 1
• 1. Use of phrase-structure rules:
– A. Noun
– B. Verb
– C. Adjective
– D. Rules for word order
– E. Simple vs. Compound sentences
11. Syntax 2
• Use of transformational rules:
– A. Understanding and use of questions
– B. Imperative sentences
– C. Passive voice
12. Semantics
• Understanding the meaning of words…
VOCABULARY
• Number of words
• Types of words
• Speed of processing
• Figures of speech
• Proverbs and Humor
14. Pragmatics 2
• Conversational Rules:
– 1. Turn-taking
– 2. Conversational Repairs
– 3. Topic Setting and Maintenance
– 4. Awareness of the NEED to vary one’s
language depending on the audience
– VIDEO: Turn-taking with Scrabble
15. Keep in mind when using
formal assessments…
• Reliability vs. Validity
• Reliability is the CONSISTENCY of how
the assessment measures the target skill.
• Validity is the EXTENT to which the
assessment measures what it says it
measures.
16. Formal Assessments
• Standardized Tests – set of standard
directions and format
• Norm Referenced – Individual is
compared to a comparison population
• Comprehensive – broad range of
language skills
• Tests of specific language skills
17. Problems with Formal
Assessments
• 1. Do not accurately reflect a child’s
spontaneous language abilities
• 2. Do not easily translate into therapeutic
goals.
• Do not adequately assess students from
diverse social and cultural backgrounds.
18. Sites to find out
HOW a student learns
• Two quick and easy ones!!
• Quick School-Age Screener
• Middle School Screener
19. Group Task: Break it down, share your
knowledge and then compare…
Curriculum-Based Assessments
(pgs. 289-290)
Ecological Assessments
(pgs. 290-292)
5. Read the information in the book – taking notes and
discussing any questions you may have with your team
members.
6. Create a graphic organizer to share with a member from
the other team… you will need your own copy.
7. Pair up with a person from the other team and share
your understanding of each assessment.
8. Complete a group Venn Diagram illustrating your new
understanding of CBA and Ecological Assessments.
