ARKANSAS  COMMUNICATION  BOARD

Language. Ages: 11-17 years

The ALST provides speech-language pathologists and other interested professionals with a rapid (less than 15 minutes in administrative time), thorough method for individual screening adolescents' speech and language.  The dimensions of language use, content, and form are screened by seven subtests:  Pragmatics, Receptive Vocabulary, Concepts, Expressive Vocabulary, Sentence Formulation, Morphology, and Phonology.  The results of this screening device provide the clnician with a solid foundation for recommending a total communication evaluaion and outline the language dimensions on which extension testing should focus.

Speech production. Ages: 1'5-18 years

The Arizona-3 provides speech-language pathologists and education professionals with all the features for which the test has long been recognized, as well as new features that increase the range, power, and usefulness of the test.  It is for use with children and adults but is most sensitive to developmental changes in preschool and early elementary school levels.  The test still uses a simple picture-presentation format that offers complete administration to most children in less than 3 minutes.  Scoring involves the easy-to-understand "Total Score" that expresses the child's successful speech production on a scale from 1 to 100.  The test covers all the major speech sounds in the English language, including initial and final consonants and blends, vowels, and dipthongs.

Communication. Mental ages: 0-8 months

Obtain assessment results relevant to planning effective intervention for individuals functioning at the lowest levels of mental development. The APPSI is designed specifically for clinicians working with clients of any age who are preverbal and functioning at a mental age of 0 to 8 months. The APPSI is indivdually administered in 30 to 60 minutes. Discover clients’ preferences for visual, auditory, and tactile stimuli on the receptive side, and also for social interaction and methods of communicative output, all with this easy-to-administer test. You’ll find the test aligned with Piagetian sensorimotor framework of stages I through III. The APPSI aids in defining individuals’ preferred methods of communication, which is most useful for planning instruction to enhance the independence of these individuals.

Classroom skills. Grades: Kindergarten-College

This functional assessment tool provides a standarized instrument to screen students who are having difficulty learning.  Both general and special educators can identify and prioritize students who would benefit from a comprehensive assessment or early intervention.  ACES is an effective tool to determine how the student functions in the classroom.  On one form - the Teacher Response Form - ACES summarizes all areas necessary for academic competence from the teacher's perspective:  Academic Skills, Interpersonal Skillls, Academic Motivation, Study Skills, and Classroom Engagement.  Multiple teachers may evaluate the same student for a comprehenswive view of student functioning.

Classroom skills. Grades: 4th-8th

Administer to an entire classroom or individually in the clinic. Tasks assess "school language" & entire learning skills (listening, reading, writing, task persistence, metalinguistic & vocabulary skills). Stimulates collaboration and links IEPs to the general curriculum.  Contains reproducible administration forms.

Language. Grades: Preschool-1st

The ALL aids in early detection of language disorders that could lead to reading difficulties.  ALL assesses spoken language and written language skills, including:  listening comprehension, language comprehension, semantics, syntax, phonological awareness, alphabetic principles/phonics, and concepts about print.

Speech production. Ages: 3 years - Adult

Use one instrument to assess phonological awareness, use of phonological processes, and production of speech sounds. This comprehensive battery of informal criterion-referenced assessment measures can be used to identify learning needs and to plan instructional programs. The kit now includes a CD with reproducible forms that can be helpful in distinguishing articulation differences from disorders. Forms are included for use with speakers of African American English, French, Japanese, Vietnamese, Mandarin, Cantonese, and Korean.

AAC. Ages: 2-21 years

Originally developed for use with children who use speech-generating systems; the AAC Profile is appropriate for use with adults who do not have acquired communication disorders and who use AAC systems.  The profile is not specific to a disorder, severity, or setting. The AAC Profile allows you to:

• identify areas of strength and those that need intervention and instruction

• determine functional, long-range outcomes and the steps toward achieving them

• compare individual performance over time toward desired outcomes

• identify ways that AAC support team members can define and coordinate their roles for intervention and instruction programs

• identify and provide optimal learning environments

Communication. Ages: 3 years - Adult

This comprehensive new resource includes information about assessing individuals with communication disorders and practical reproducible assessment forms that you can use with children and adults. In addition to structured assessment tasks, observational assessment tools are included that can be used with speakers of any language. Reproducible measures are included for assessing the articulation, language, voice, and fluency skills of Spanish speakers. Many of these assessments can be adapted easily for use in other languages. Users of other inventories such as Spanish Language Assessment Procedures, will find this book extremely valuable when additional information is obtained in specific areas.  Strategies are described for assessing the communication skills of students from bilingual backgrounds:

• Suggestions for assessing students in two languages

• Distinguishing differences from disorders

• Assessing learning strategies

• Using Response to Intervention strategies

• Implementing the Contextual Assessment of Language Learning (CALL)

Speech production. Grades; K-8th

The second edition of The Boone Voice Program for Children takes a new look at voice evaluation and voice therapy for children. This cognitive program is designed to give children insights into why they may have voice problems related to voice abuse. Step-by-step guidelines and materials are provided for both the evaluation and remediation of voice disorders in children. The program is based on the therapeutic philosophy and procedures developed in The Voice and Voice Therapy.

Language. Autism screening. Ages: 4-16'11 years

The CCC-2 assesses communication skills in the areas of pragmatics, syntax, morphology, semantics, and speech in children who speak in sentences and whose primary language is English.  It is administered using a Caregiver Response Form on which the caregiver rates the frequency that the child demonstrates the communication behavior described in each item. It is designed to identify children with a pragmatic language impairment; identify children who may have a speech and language impairment, and whose receptive and expressive language skills should be further evaluated with a comprehensive assessment; and assist in identifying children who may require further assessment for an autism spectrum disorder.

Speech production. Ages: 3-10 years

Use CSIM to establish baseline information about intelligibility and to monitor progress during the course of articulation/phonological treatment. Administration and scoring take just 20 minutes. CSIM can be used with any child whose speech is unintelligible, including children who have phonological disorders, hearing loss, cerebral palsy, mental retardation, or with children who have no diagnosed disorder, yet their speech is difficult to understand.  With 200 versions of the Stimulus List provided in the manual, you can test a child frequently using a different word list each time.  The results enable you to monitor the effects of therapeutic intervention and alter the therapy plan as needed to facilitate progress.

Classrom skills. Ages: 4- 11 years

This informal, four-page, observational record form is designed for use when deficits in attention, language comprehension, or oral communication are observed.

Speech production. Ages: 2'6-11'11

The CAAP-2 is the most current assessment for articulation and phonology.  It is time-efficient, accurate, and yields results that are easy to score and interpret.  You may administer the Articulation Inventory in 15-20 minutes.  The checklist approach to assessing phonological processes virtually eliminates the need for phonetic transcrpition.  Qualify students for therapy with Word standard scores, Sentence standard scores, or Phonology standard scores.  Articulation inventory targets pre- and postvocalic consonant singletons, cluster words containing S, R, and L in the initial position, three- and four- syllable words, postvocalic productions of R, and production of sounds in sentences (for children 5 years and older).  Phonological process checklists assess final consonant deletion, cluster reduction, syllable reduction, gliding, vocalization, fronting, deaffrication, stopping, prevocalic voicing, and postvocalic devoicing. 

Language. Ages: 5-21'11 years

The new CELF-5 is a comprehensive battery of tests that provides you with a streamlined, flexible approach to language assessment.  It now offers a more robust assessment of pragmatics using observations and interactive activities.  Also included are new written language tests, updated norms, and a scoring/reporting platform delivered on Q-global.  Available in both traditional and digital editions, CELF-5- provides highly accurate diagnostic information with current normative data, reflecting today's diverse population.  Alse see:  CELF-5 Screening Test

Language. Ages: 9-21'11 years

A revision of the Test of Language Competence-Expanded, the CELF-5 Metalinguistics assessment includes four tests of higher-level language skills that are embedded in upper-grade curricula and are critical to classroom success.  Use it to measure a student's ability to think about and use language to make inferences, manipulate conversational speech given a context, use words in multiple ways, and use language in a non-literal manner.  Administer the four tests individually or as a battery to obtain information about an individual's language skills.  Ideal for students with subtle language disorders or those on the autism spectrum.  Goes beyond assessment of syntax and semantics to assess student's language strategies and language flexibility.  Includes several tests that assess the student's ability to interpret contextual and situational demands of conversation.  Helps you evaluate delays in semantic, syntactic, and pragmatic competence.

Language. Ages: 3-6 years

The test of choice used to evaluate those aspects of language necessary for preschool children to make the transition to the classroom.  Comprehensively measures a broad range of language skills for children, while meeting IDEA mandates.  More than 1,500 preschool-aged children participated in the standardization.  New Gowth Scores and Growth Charts provide an objective, quantitative measure of a child's progress. 

• Includes a variety of subtests, including a pre-literacy scale, that provides in-depth assessment of language skills

• A pragmatics profile helps to describe the child's language use at school or at home

• Results guide you in developing successful intervention planning

• Illustrations are age-appropriate and engaging

Communication. Mental ages: 0-24 months

The Communication Matrix is an assessment tool designed to pinpoint exactly how an individual is communicating and to provide a framework for determining logical communication goals.  It was first published in 1990 and was revised in 1996 and 2004 by Dr. Charity Rowland of Oregon Health & Science Univeristy.  It was designed primarily for speech-language pathologists and educators to use to document the expressive communication skills of children who have severe multiple disabilities, including children with sensory, motor and cognitive impairments.  The origianl verison for professionals is still available in print for purchase at www.designtolearn.com.  It uses a consise format that is designed for rapid administration by persons familiar with the assessment.

Language. Ages: 3-21 years

The CASL is an individually and orally administered, research-based, theory-driven oral language assessment battery.  Fifteen tests measure language processing skills--comprehension, expression, and retrieval--in four language structure categories:  Lexical/Semantic, Syntactic, Supralinguistic, and Pragmatic.  In-depth assessment capabilities provide a precise picture of problems with language processing skills and structural knowledge.  Use CASL to record growth from preschool through the secondary years.  Age-based norms identify language disorders and impairment as outlined by IDEA.  Tests, composites, and indexes have high internal consistency and test-retest reliabilities.  Only a verbal or nonverbal (pointing) response is required.  Reading or writing ability is not needed to respond to test items. 

The CASL battery is ideal for measuring delayed language, oral language disorders, dyslexia, and aphasia.  CASL is flexible.  Administer only the tests you need for a single subject.  For example, an average five-year-old might be given four core tests, plus one or two supplementary tests, if warranted.  Core tests measure the most representative aspects of each language category for each of the six age bands.  Supplementary tests provide additional diagnostic information to yield assessment data for quantitative (profile) and qualitative (clinical) analyses.

Language. Age: 4-24'11 years

The CTOPP was published in 1999 to meet the need for an assessment of reading-related phonological processing skills.  Since its initial publication, the CTOPP has been popular with professionals in psychology and education.  It has been used in many studies of reading and phonological processing in both typical and clinical population.  It assesses phonological awareness, phonological memory, and rapid naming.  It was developed to aid in the identification of individuals from kindergarten through college who might profit from instructional activities to enhance their phonological skills. 

AIM Center document

This report was written with support from the National Center on Accessing the General Curriculum (NCAC) in a cooperative agreement between CAST and the U.S. Department of Education,  Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP)

Speech producation. Ages: 3-8'11 years

The DEAP is a comprehensive standardized assessment that evaluates both articulation and phonological processes.  The DEAP includes a Diagnostic Screen, a diagnostic Articulation Assessment, a diagnostic Phonology Assessment (with a phonological analysis), and an Oral Motor Screen.  Use it in conjuction with CELF-4, PLS-4, or another comprehensive language test to obtain a complete understanding of a child's speech and language ability.

Language. Ages: 4-9 years

The DELV family of products paves the way for the language assessment of all children including those children who are speakers of dialects other than Mainstream American English (MAE).  The DELV-- Norm Referenced language test individually or in combination to provide a comprehensive language assessment.

• Focuses not only on what the child doesn't know, but also identifies what a child understands to guide in intervention planning

• Assesses narrative skills important to literacy

• Specifically designed to eliminate dialect responses completely, DELV-NR identifies children who have a language disorder

• Provides demographically adjusted norms

The DELV helps reduce over-identification of minority children receiving speech and language services and aligns with ASHA's Position Statement on Social Dialects.  The only language test that neutralized the effect that dialects have on children's language test scores.  To distinguish disordered patterns of speech and language the DELV assess a child's knowledge of those aspects of speech and language that are non-contrastive, meaning they are common across varieties of American English so they are less likely to lead to the misidentification of language difference as language disorder.  Also, because the research study sample comprised children of different races and ethnicities who spoke many varieties of American English, the DELV line of assessments is based on information gathered on the most culturally and linguistically diverse popuation to date.  DELV Norm-Refrenced evaluates syntax, pragmatics, semantics, and phonology.

ASHA Directory

This resource is published by the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association to support practitioners in their efforts to keep their knowledge and skills current in a broad range of administrative and clinical areas.

Classroom environment. Ages: 3-8 years

The ELLCO toolkit is comprised of three parts:  (1) a literacy environment checklist to familiarize observers with the classroom's layout and contents;  (2) a classroom observation and teacher interview, examining general classroom environment and language, literacy, and curriculum; and (3) a literacy activities rating scale, recording literacy behaviors related to book reading and writing.  Measures 5 key literacy elements:  classroom structure, curriculum, the language enivronment, books and book reading opportunities, and print and early writing supports.

• ELLCO Pre-K is a reliable observation tool that's tailored specifically to early childhood setting focusing on important preliteracy activities like storybook reading, circle time conversations, and child-originated storywriting.

• ELLCO K-3 is tailored specifically to early elementary settings, focusing on what research identifies as key components of reading, writing, and effective instruction.

Communication. Ages: 3 months- 6 years

EASIC-3 is a five-level inventory developed for use with children who are developmentally disabled, have autism, or have moderate to severe cognitive and language disorders.  It provides assessment items in the areas of prelinguistic skills, semantics, syntax, morphology, pragmatics.

Language. Ages: 5-11 year

The ELT 2 is comprised of five subtests with tasks that require students to process and organize language, retrieve what they hear, and use the expressive skills needed for success in the classroom.  The test is sensitive to typical variations in exprssive language development which means you'll identify those children with true expressive language disorders and have less chance of over-identification. The sequencing tasks included are a fundamental skill of narrative ability.  The inability to sequence and express a narrative is an important predictor of academic success.  The Metalinguistic tasks of Defining and Generating Examples are included in order to tap a student's awareness of and ability to express the meanings of words and to use those words in context.  Students with expressive language disorders may not have the vocabulary or know how to exactly zero in on the set of features that belong to a word in order to do well on these tasks.  Grammar and Syntax are areas that consistently define children with expressive language disorders.  Deficits in these areas affect a student's ability to communicate meaningfully.  Defining Categories measures a student's ablility to give verbal definitions and is well-recognized as a strong correlate of children's academic success and literacy attainment (Chall, 1987;  Johnson & Anglin, 1995)

Communication. Age: 3 years- Adult

The FCP-R lets you account for some of the unique aspects of communication and the diversity among individuals with developmental and acquired delays.  It addresses all communication possibilities and is not limited to oral language expression.  Test items help fulfill the standards in state and federal regulations in the United States.  The FCP-R yields an overall inventory of the individual's comminication abilities, mode of communication (e.g., verbal, sign, nonverbal, augmentative), and degree of independence.  Clients are assessed and rated in the major skills categories of communication through direct observation, teacher and caregiver reports and one on one testing.  The FCP-R is appropriate for individuals who range between mild and profound deficits.

Speech production. Ages: 2-21 years

The second edition of the Goldman-Fristoe Test of Articulation gives you updated norms and expanded features, and it remains accurate and easy to administer.  The test provides information about a child's articulation ability by sampling both spontaneous and imitative sound production.  Examinees respond to picture plates and verbal cues from the examiner with single-word answers that demonstrate common speech sounds.  Additional sections provide further measures of speech production.  Use this test to measure articulation of consonant sounds, determine types of misarticulation, and compare individual performance to national, gender-differentiated norms.

Speech production. Ages: 3-8 years

The HAPP-3 is a valid, reliable, standardized test that is norm-referenced and also criterion-referenced.  It was designed for children with highly unintelligible speech.  The HAPP-3 stimulus words and transcriptions have been "internationalized."  Two screening components are included--Multisyllabic words and Preschool.  Can be used with Hodson Computerized Analysis (HCAPP).  Use the phonetic symbols (provided in the software) to enter the child's productions of 50 words used on the HAPP-3.  Once entered, click the Results button.  Utterances are instantly scored for phonological deviations and a report--including suggested goals--is generated.  Compare the TOMPD score generated in HCAPP to data provided in the HAPP-3 to determine a standard score.  Client data can be stored for future retrieval.

Speech producation . Ages: 2-5'11 years

The KSPT assists in the diagnosis and treatment of developmental apraxia (dyspraxia) of speech in preschool children.  It identifies the level of breakdown in a child's ability to speak in order to establish treatment and track improvement.  Easy to administer and score, the test helps measure a child's imitative responses to the clinician, locates where the child's speech system is breaking down, and points to a systematic course of treatment.  Results of the KSPT are useful beyond establishing an initial diagnosis.  Measure and quantify gains in motor-speech several ways.  Individual sections of the test help the clinician establish treatment goals and measure progress.  Use KSPT results to generate goals for Individualized Education Programs (IEPs).  This assessment tool is critical for speech-language pathologists who work with children in public schools, hospitals, universities, and private practice.

Speech production. Ages: 2-21 years

Now you can make a greater impact on students with speech disorders with the newest edition of the Khan-Lewis Phonological Analysis (KLPA-2).  It works with Goldman-Fristoe 2 to give you a more comprehensive diagnosis of both articulation and use of phonological processes.  First, you administer Goldman-Fristoe 2 to get a detailed measure of articulation ability.  Then you transfer the responses to the KLPA-2 Analysis Form.  Next, use the Sound Change Booklet to identify which phonological processes were used.  Easy to read and color-coded, the booklet gives you diagnostic phonological information at a glance.  Finally, use the new Phonological Summary and Progress Report for parents to develop targeted treatment strategies.

Language. Ages: 5-11 years

Use the LPT-3 to diagnose language processing disorders in underachieving children.  The test evaluates the ability to attach increasingly more meaning to information received to then formulate an expressive response.  The skills evaluated are discrete and carefully controlled, beginning with simple tasks and progressively increasing the language processing demand placed upon the student.  This hierarchical approach ensures evaluation of prerequisite skills for increased processing demand.  There are two pretests and six subtests.  Each subsequent subtest builds on the skills previously evaluated.  The test items are valid clinical indicators of the ability to attach meaning to language.  It contain the following subtests:  labeling, stating functions, associations, categorization, similarities, differences, multiple meanings, and attributes.

Classroom skills. Ages: 6-11

The LCT-2 assesses listening through natural classroom situations rather than evaluating listening through simple repetition or discrimination subtests.  The tasks reveal students' strengths and weaknesses in integrated language problem solving, reasoning, and comprehension of material presented auditorily.  Because children need the basic skill of listening (receiving, attending to, interpreting, and responding to verbal messages and other cues) in order to succeed in school and in life and because classroom listening is such as integrated process, each subtest on The Listening Comprehension Test 2 require students to: 

• pay careful attention to what they hear

• listen with a purpose in mind

• remember what they hear well enough to think about it

• avoid being impulsive in giving answers

• express answers verbally

The test, as closely as possible, models the type of listening required in the classroom.  The student must determine what part of the message needs immediate attention, organize and understand the input, and plan appropriate responses.  In order to respond, the student must integrate the communiction skills of vocabulary and semantics, syntax and morphology, phonology, and thinking.

Speech production. Ages: 3-21 years

The LAT was designed to identify children and yound adults with abnormal articulation patterns.  It ensures a thorough examination of all sounds and blends by presenting several sounds more than one time in the same position.  All positions at the word level are tested.  Test results, in combination with the stimulability and inteligibiltiy ratings and a Childhood Apraxia of Speech Screening included with the LAT, allow the SLP to make appropriate recommendations regarding the type and length of service.  An accurate diagnosis leads to best practice therapy.  The LAT can also be used to measure progress in therapy. 

Language. Ages: 8-37 months

With the CDIs, professionals can tap into parents' day-to-day knowledge about their children's language and communication skills.  The User's Guide and Technical Manual provides complete instructions, technical reports, norms, and guidance on interpreting scores for various subpopulations.  The Words & Gestures forms tap into parents' day-to-day knowledge about their children's language and communication skills between the ages of 8 and 18 months.  The Words & Sentences forms tap into parents' day-to-day knowledge about their children's language and communication skills between the ages of 16 and 30 months.  CDI III, an extension of the CDIs for children between 30 and 37 months of age, is a short, single-sheet tool that measures expressive vocabulary and grammar.

Oral-motor skills. Ages: 4'6-7'11

The MOST is a comprehensive and quick assessment designed to put a numerical value on oral movement, oral-tactile sensitivity, facial and oral tone, as well as basic respiration, phonation, and resonation skills.  The MOST is the first exam to allow speech-language pathologists an opportunity to place a numerical value on the exam.  The MOST identifies jaw, lip, and tongue movement problems.  It is optimal for children with concomitant feeding difficulties, neurological deficits, developmental disorders, and sensory processing disorders.

Laguage. Ages: 3-12'11 years

The MAVA measures two of the four types of vocabulary, listening and speaking.  (The other two types are reading and writing.)  It was designed to measure the development of children's oral language by assessing listening and speaking vocabulary.  Because oral language precedes reading and writing, it serves as an excellent predictor of literacy skills.  It also informs teachers of the words or concepts that require extra attention in the classroom.  And, it guides special educators and parents toward appropriate intervention plans and IEP goals.  The words were selected using the three word tiers identified by Beck, McKeown and Kucan (2002)., and are assigned depending on their characteristics of meaning and use.  Tier 1 words are the most basic; Tier 2 words are high frequency words; Tier 3 words are related to specifiic domains and have a low frequency. 

Article by John J. Heilmann

While language sample analysis (LSA) is frequently recommended for assessing children's language skills, many speech-language pathologists do not use it regularly.  This article reviewed key issues surrounding clinical use of LSA to provide clinicians with a realistic overview of the process and encourage increased use of LSA in clinical practice.