Preschool Language Scales-5: Assessing Language From 0-7

Preschool Language Scales-5:Assessing Language from 0-7Nancy Castilleja, MA CCC-SLPPearson AssessmentCopyright 2007 Pearson Education, inc. or its affiliates. All rights reserved.

Course Objectives identify three key differences betweenPLS-4 and PLS-5 describe two research studies conductedwith the PLS-5 describe at least two principles identifiedby ASHA as best practices in earlylanguage assessmentCopyright 2007 Pearson Education, inc. or its affiliates. All rights reserved.

Test Purpose:Identify young children (ages birth to 7:11) who have a language delayor disorderCopyright 2007 Pearson Education, inc. or its affiliates. All rights reserved.

New in PLS-5 Current norms for a wider age range: based on the 2008update of the U.S. Census for children birth through 7:11 Streamlined administration, with new suggested start pointsand test items that involve manipulatives grouped forsmoother transitions during testing Improved test items, based on clinician and field testers’feedback New Growth Scale Values! Evidence-based scores you canuse to track progress Updated Articulation Screener with picture stimuliCopyright 2007 Pearson Education, inc. or its affiliates. All rights reserved.

What skills does PLS-5 target?Assess a wide range of communication skills– Preverbal skills Attention to environment and peoplePlayVocal developmentSocial communicationGesture– Language content and structure understanding and using concepts Understanding and using morphosyntactic forms– Integrative language skills (thinking using language)AnalogiesSimilesCategoriesSemantic absurditiesTheory of Mind– Emergent literacy Book handling Phonological awareness Letter identificationCopyright 2007 Pearson Education, inc. or its affiliates. All rights reserved.

Age Range and Administration Time Age range: Now birth through 7:11– Use normed scores for children through age 7– Use as a criterion-referenced tool for older elementary agechildren functioning at the birth to 7:11 age range– Not appropriate for use with secondary students or adultsfunctioning at a language age of birth through 7:11 Administration time:–––––Birth through 11 months: 25-35 minutes12 through 35 months: 45-55 minutes3:0 through 4:11: 50-60 minutes5:0 through 7:11 40-50 minutesNew start points reduce administration timeCopyright 2007 Pearson Education, inc. or its affiliates. All rights reserved.

Test Kit and ManipulativesCopyright 2007 Pearson Education, inc. or its affiliates. All rights reserved.

Organization of the TestNorm-referenced Scales Auditory Comprehension Scale Expressive Communication ScaleSupplemental Measures Language Sample Checklist Articulation Screener Home CommunicationQuestionnaireCopyright 2007 Pearson Education, inc. or its affiliates. All rights reserved.

Home Communication QuestionnaireCopyright 2007 Pearson Education, inc. or its affiliates. All rights reserved.

Home Communication QuestionnaireCopyright 2007 Pearson Education, inc. or its affiliates. All rights reserved.

Scores Auditory Comprehension, ExpressiveCommunication, and Total Communication– Standard scores– Percentile ranks– Growth Scale Values (formerly called Progress Scores onthe PLS-4 Measure of Progress)– Age equivalents Articulation Screener– Research-based criterion scores by ageCopyright 2007 Pearson Education, inc. or its affiliates. All rights reserved.

How different is PLS-5 from PLS-4?Approximately 25% of the test items are new to PLS-5 25% are unchanged 50% have been modified in some way, withnew art, new administration directions, ornew practice itemsCopyright 2007 Pearson Education, inc. or its affiliates. All rights reserved.

New Test Items For ages 18-24 months– additional items assessing play For ages 3 through 4 years– new items assessing bookhandling and concept ofprint For ages 5 through 7 years– new items testing Theory of Mind Integrated language skills such as use of synonyms Emergent literacy skills such as naming letters and understandingprefixesCopyright 2007 Pearson Education, inc. or its affiliates. All rights reserved.

New item: Uses synonymsCopyright 2007 Pearson Education, inc. or its affiliates. All rights reserved.

New Demonstration Item for UnderstandsSize/Sequence Concepts (smallest, biggest)Copyright 2007 Pearson Education, inc. or its affiliates. All rights reserved.

New Practice item:Uses Possessive Pronouns: hers, hisCopyright 2007 Pearson Education, inc. or its affiliates. All rights reserved.

New Practice Item:Understands noun two adjectivesCopyright 2007 Pearson Education, inc. or its affiliates. All rights reserved.

Revised practice itemCopyright 2007 Pearson Education, inc. or its affiliates. All rights reserved.

Updated artCopyright 2007 Pearson Education, inc. or its affiliates. All rights reserved.

Assessing Theory of Mind Theory of Mind– Capacity to understand another’s mental stateto explain and predict others’ behavior (Miller, 2006)– Child learns to take another person’sperspective– Link between Theory of Mind andcommunication (de Villiers & de Villiers, 2005)– Also important for comprehending narrativesCopyright 2007 Pearson Education, inc. or its affiliates. All rights reserved.

Items integrating Theory of Mindconcepts Some items requiring that the child makeinferences about another’s feelings orintentionsCopyright 2007 Pearson Education, inc. or its affiliates. All rights reserved.

Understanding false beliefsCopyright 2007 Pearson Education, inc. or its affiliates. All rights reserved.

Examples of streamlined administrationof test itemsCopyright 2007 Pearson Education, inc. or its affiliates. All rights reserved.

Copyright 2007 Pearson Education, inc. or its affiliates. All rights reserved.

Modified Articulation Screener, nowwith visual stimuliCopyright 2007 Pearson Education, inc. or its affiliates. All rights reserved.

Changes from PLS-4 to PLS-5Item Administration and Scoring Changes– New! Start points reduce administration time Examinees take fewer test items– All test stimuli are in the Record Form– Items retained from PLS-4 are similar, but some items havescoring changes Example: Naming Categories item: as long as the childnames at least six items in the category, he or she mayname one or two items that are not in the category Specifics will be posted on PLS-5.com in late SpringCopyright 2007 Pearson Education, inc. or its affiliates. All rights reserved.

ScoringCopyright 2007 Pearson Education, inc. or its affiliates. All rights reserved.

Scoring Basal: 3 consecutive correct responses Ceiling: 6 consecutive errors– Based on performance of children in thestandardization sample– Because PLS-5 tests a variety of skills, a childcould obtain one or more score points if youdiscontinue testing earlierCopyright 2007 Pearson Education, inc. or its affiliates. All rights reserved.

Standardization Research Over 1800 children were tested forstandardization and related reliability andvalidity studies from December 2009through August 2010 The standardization sample was collectedby 189 clinicians in 42 states in the UnitedStatesCopyright 2007 Pearson Education, inc. or its affiliates. All rights reserved.

Technical Information– Demographic Information– Validity Studies Clinical studies– Ages 1-2:11 language delay study– Ages 3:0-7:11 language disorder study– Sensitivity/specificity– Positive/negative predictive power Correlations with other assessments– PLS-4– CELF Preschool-2– Reliability Studies Inter-rater reliability: .95 to .98 Inter-scorer agreement: .91 to 1.0– Case studies Autism Hearing ImpairmentCopyright 2007 Pearson Education, inc. or its affiliates. All rights reserved.

Sample mirrors March 2008 Update ofthe U.S. Census: Race/EthnicityAfrican-American 14%Asian 4%Hispanic 23%White 55%Other 4%Copyright 2007 Pearson Education, inc. or its affiliates. All rights reserved.

Sample mirrors March 2008 Update ofthe U.S. Census: Parent Education0-11 years 15%High School diploma or GED 26%1-3 years college or technical school 28%4 or more years of college 31%Copyright 2007 Pearson Education, inc. or its affiliates. All rights reserved.

Sample mirrors March 2008 Update ofthe U.S. Census: RegionPLS-5 Normative Sample: RegionNortheast 19.7%Midwest 19.9%South 36.4%West 24%Copyright 2007 Pearson Education, inc. or its affiliates. All rights reserved.

Where Children in the PLS-5 SampleSpend the Majority of their DayChild's Learning EnvironmentHome w/Family 56.4%Home w/Sitter 2.9%Day Care 16.4%Preschool 6.7%KinderGrades 1-2Other/NRCopyright 2007 Pearson Education, inc. or its affiliates. All rights reserved.

Are children with disabilities included in thePLS-5 sample?Copyright 2007 Pearson Education, inc. or its affiliates. All rights reserved.

PLS-4/PLS-5 CorrelationsCopyright 2007 Pearson Education, inc. or its affiliates. All rights reserved.

CELF Preschool-2/PLS-5 CorrelationsCopyright 2007 Pearson Education, inc. or its affiliates. All rights reserved.

Clinical Study: Developmental DelayCopyright 2007 Pearson Education, inc. or its affiliates. All rights reserved.

Clinical Study: Receptive-Expressive DisorderCopyright 2007 Pearson Education, inc. or its affiliates. All rights reserved.

Sensitivity/Specificity:NPP/PPP with 50% Matched .63Cut ScoreSD andPredictivePower-1 SD-1.5 SD-2 SDNote. PPP is Positive Predictive Power and NPP isNegative Predictive Power.Copyright 2007 Pearson Education, inc. or its affiliates. All rights reserved.

Reliability: Test-Retest Stability Testing interval: 3-28 daysCopyright 2007 Pearson Education, inc. or its affiliates. All rights reserved.(n 127)

Split Half Reliability (Internal Consistency)Copyright 2007 Pearson Education, inc. or its affiliates. All rights reserved.

Reliability: Internal ConsistencyCopyright 2007 Pearson Education, inc. or its affiliates. All rights reserved.

Reliability: Internal ConsistencyCopyright 2007 Pearson Education, inc. or its affiliates. All rights reserved.

Reliability: Inter-rater agreementInter-rater study(n 54)– Birth through 3:11 AC .96 EC .99 Total Language .98– 4:0 through 7:11 AC .96 EC .96 Total Language .96Copyright 2007 Pearson Education, inc. or its affiliates. All rights reserved.

Roles and Responsibilities of SLPs inEarly Intervention www.asha.org/policy Four guiding principles1. family-centered and culturally andlinguistically responsive2. developmentally supportive and promoteparticipation in natural environments3. comprehensive, coordinated, and team based4. based on the highest quality evidenceavailableCopyright 2007 Pearson Education, inc. or its affiliates. All rights reserved.

Family-centered and culturally andlinguistically responsive––––Home Communication QuestionnaireCaregiver participation in testingCaregiver-selected and caregiver-identified socialroutines and vocabulary tested for very youngchildrenExtensive bias review and widespread testing with adiverse sample has resulted in– Familiar home vocabulary and contexts– Dialectal, regional, and cultural variations totarget responses are accepted as correctCopyright 2007 Pearson Education, inc. or its affiliates. All rights reserved.

Developmentally supportive and promoteparticipation in natural environments Observation of naturally occurring behaviors foryounger childrenCredit given for spontaneous productions in andoutside the assessment roomDevelopmentally appropriate skills assessedCopyright 2007 Pearson Education, inc. or its affiliates. All rights reserved.

Comprehensive, coordinated, and teambased Provides a survey of language skills in the areas of–––––Social communicationSemanticsMorphologySyntaxArticulation Useful for arena assessment; can be administeredby professionals in child development teamsCopyright 2007 Pearson Education, inc. or its affiliates. All rights reserved.

Based on the highest quality evidenceavailable Current normative data Literature review Expert reviewCopyright 2007 Pearson Education, inc. or its affiliates. All rights reserved.