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Testing Instruments

There are many language testing instruments available for young children, but it’s not always easy to select a battery that that is appropriate for each child in your group. The following is a list of standardized tests and informal measures that are used in the Preschool and Communication Therapy (PACT) program. Staff members have found that these measures are helpful for measuring progress towards therapy goals.

Preschool Language Scale-Fourth Edition (PLS-4) (Zimmerman, I. L., Steiner, V. G., & Pond, R. E., 2002) The PLS-4 is administered to measure expressive and receptive language skills in infants and toddlers. The Auditory Comprehension (AC) subscale is used to evaluate how much language the child understands. The tasks on this subscale target skills that are considered important precursors for language development (e.g., attention to speakers, appropriate object play). The tasks assess comprehension of basic vocabulary, concepts, and grammatical markers.

The Expressive Communication (EC) subscale of the PLS-4 is used to determine how well the child communicates with others. The tasks on this subscale measure verbal development and social communication. The child is asked to name common objects, use concepts that describe objects, express quantity, and use specific prepositions, grammatical markers, and sentence structures that are age appropriate.

The MacArthur-Bates Communicative Development Inventory: Words and Gestures (Fenson, L., Marchman, V. A., Thal, D. J., Dale, P. S., & Reznick, J. S., 2006) The parent completes an inventory of how many words, phrases, and gestures the child understands and produces at home.

Assessment of Play, Pragmatics, and Language Skills (APPLS) (Zinke, J. & Wyche, M., 2005) The APPLS is a non-standardized screening tool used to determine whether the child demonstrates difficulty in the areas of language, play, and social interaction, which are the three areas that are usually deficient in children with significant language and social delays. The four subtests are described in more detail below.

• Communication Temptations/Requesting Scale
  High interest toys and snacks are set up on shelves (out of the child’s reach) around the room. The examiner observes the child’s requesting (or lack thereof) upon entering the room. Requests with a word or gesture result in a score of 1. Requests such as grabbing and or reaching, without involving the adult, yield a score of 0. Up to fifteen communication temptations are available; however, only the first ten are scored.
  

• Turn-Taking/Reciprocal Communication Scale
  This scale measures the amount of interaction between the child and an adult partner in a book reading task. The child is given ten communication opportunities including pointing, labeling, completing sentences, making sound effects, turning the page, and asking a question. This yields a percentage of total communication opportunities.
  

• Representational Play Scale
  Representational play refers to the child’s ability to use an item for its intended purpose, such as using a hammer to hit a toy nail. For this part of the assessment, the child is presented with ten common items, one at a time. Items include a cup, spoon, hammer, drum, and a phone. If the child correctly uses the item, he or she receives a score of 1. This results in a percentage of opportunities for representational play.
  

• Symbolic Play Scale
  This scale is administered concurrently with the representational play scale. The therapist models using an unrelated item to represent the desired item, such as using a block, rather than a hammer, to hit a toy nail, while the child is using the representational item. Then the therapist exchanges the representational item with the symbolic item, to see if the child will imitate the symbolic play. If the child correctly uses the item, he or she receives a score of 1. This results in a percentage of opportunities for symbolic play.
  

Comprehension of Classroom Commands (Zinke, J., & Wyche, M., 2007) This assessment measures the level of assistance (independent, followed a model, or required hand-over-hand assistance) required to follow simple commands such as “Sit down,” “Give me,” and “Clean up.”

Pre-Writing Skills Inventory (Zinke, J., & Wyche, M., 2007) This assessment is designed to observe the child’s writing skills. He is presented with a piece of paper and a marker, and is rated on the following criteria: picking up the marker, reaching for the paper, taking off the cap, gripping the marker with a pincer grip, making a mark on the paper, and making recognizable shapes, lines, letters, etc. Ten opportunities yield a percentage score.

Emergent Storybook Inventory (Zinke, J., & Hensel, S., 2007) The child is presented with a simple picture book, which is placed upside down and with the binding to the left to see if he or she will orient the book or open the book to the first page. On this scale, the child receives credit for looking at the book from left-to-right, turning one page at a time, labeling pictures, and saying “the end” after the final page. Ten opportunities yield a percentage score.

Under Development
Classroom Attention Scale (Zinke J., & Wyche, M., 2007) A child is observed during circle time to determine his attention, requisite level of support for sitting with the group, participating in the group, and maintaining eye gaze in the group. A point value is assigned for the level of support (i.e., hand-over-hand assistance, verbal cue, or independent) for each skill. This is a newer scale that will be implemented in future PACT sessions.

No longer in use
Receptive-Expressive Emergent Language Test-Third Edition (REEL-3) (Bzoch, K. R., League, R., & Brown, V. L., 2003) This parent interview was used in the early stages of PACT as a means to assess the child’s receptive and expressive language. The Receptive Language subtest measures the child’s responses to sounds or language as reported by a parent. The Expressive Language subtest is used to assess the child’s ability to communicate with others through oral language production, as reported by the caregiver. This instrument yields a standard score, percentile score, and age-equivalent. However, it was discontinued, since norms were only available up to 36 months, and the students ranged from 18 to 42 months.

Communication and Symbolic Behavior Scales Developmental Profile (CSBS DP) (Wetherby, A. M., & Prizant, B. M., 2002) The CSBS DP evaluates a child’s social communication, expressive speech/language, and play skills based on parent report and face-to-face evaluation. The assessment has two parts. First, the Caregiver Questionnaire consists of open-ended questions for the parents to describe how their child displays emotion, communicates, and uses objects in play. Second, the Behavior Sample consists of the child interacting with the examiner, the parent, and specific materials. A variety of communicative temptations are used, such as books, a feeding play set, cars, and blocks. Though the interactive format of this test was useful, it was discontinued because norms were only available up to 24 months, and the students ranged from 18 to 42 months.


References
Bzoch, K. R., League, R., Brown, V. L. (2003). Receptive-Expressive Emergent Language Test-Third Edition (REEL-3). Austin, TX: PRO-ED.

Fenson, L., Marchman, V. A., Thal, D. J., Dale, P. S., Reznick, J. S. (2006). The MacArthur-Bates Communicative Development Inventory: Words and Gestures. Baltimore, MD: Paul H. Brookes.

Wetherby, A. M., & Prizant, B. M. (2002). Communication and Symbolic Behavior Scales Developmental Profile (CSBS DP). Baltimore, MD: Paul H. Brookes.

Zimmerman, I. L., Steiner, V. G., & Pond, R. E. (2002). The Preschool Language Scale-Fourth Edition (PLS-4). San Antonio, TX: Psychological Corporation.

Zinke, J., & Hensel, S. (2007). Emergent Storybook Inventory. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan.

Zinke, J., & Wyche, M. (2005). Assessment of Play, Pragmatics, and Language Skills (APPLS). Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan.
 
Zinke J., & Wyche, M. (2007). Classroom Attention Scale. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan.

Zinke, J., & Wyche, M. (2007). Comprehension of Classroom Commands. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan.

Zinke, J., & Wyche, M. (2007). Pre-Writing Skills Inventory. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan.