This study documented the standardized tests and informal assessment techniques that school-based speech-language pathologists (SLPs) reported as most helpful for identifying vocabulary deficits and for monitoring progress. Speech-language pathologists (N = 142) working in U.S. public school settings completed an online survey that included…

Current literacy assessments are focused on a single mode of meaning-making (reading and writing, whether oral or written) and assume that literacy and language are 'fixed systems'-- comprised of discrete skills that can be taught and measured in isolation. This validation and privileging of a single mode of assessment are most culpable in…

Intended for the teacher of handicapped children, the article describes some symptoms of language processing difficulty. Prerequisite skills for language comprehension are reviewed, and characteristics which can help to identify children with receptive language problems are listed. (SBH)

Five receptive and five expressive considerations are presented which serve as guidelines for the selection of informal evaluation tasks. The resulting procedure provides descriptive data on a student's auditory processing skills and his/her ability to use language for various purposes. (Author/CL)

Public school speech-language clinicians (n=266) in California were surveyed regarding methods for assessing the language of children ages 4-9. Results are discussed in terms of formal and informal expressive and receptive language assessment and ways in which new assessment tools are identified and incorporated. (Author/JDD)

Purpose: To evaluate the effectiveness of a screening instrument (the Swedish Communication Screening at 18 months of age; SCS18), derived from the Swedish MacArthur-Bates Communicative Development Inventory, in identification of 18-month-old children who will be severely language disabled by 3 years of age, the authors (a) analyzed which SCS18's…