Chapter 5 language disorders

• prior to formal assessments
• comprehensive teacher input on student's classroom performance and comparison to peers
• interview teacher
• teacher questionnaire
• interview teacher with questionnaire 
• conduct at least one classroom observation (preferably of core curriculum activity)
• assess student's lang in l1 and l2
• remember to consider subtractive bilingualism, time and quality of instruction in each lang and time second lang has been spoken

• standarized tests
•    -most commonly used for articulation or lang disorders
•    -allow comparison of individuals performance to the group, answering the question "how does this person compare to the average
•    -indicates whether individual is at, above or below the average
•    -may not always be used for CLD
•    -distribution normally uses bell-shaped curve
•    -mean determines the peak demonstrating average performance
•    - mean also demonstrates the peak which is the middle of the distribution
•    -mode which is the most frequently occurring score
•    -current eligibility standard is 
•       -standard deviation = 1.5 sd below the mean or 7th percentile

mean-the sum of list of numbers, divided by the total number

• used for neurogenic disorders, fluency disorders and voice disorders
• comparison to an expected level of performmance

alternative assessment/nontraditional assessment

• identifies what a person can and cannot do
• most effective to observe in a real-life situations

a test truly measures what it claims to measure (face validity)

completeness of the test-are items relevant to measuring what test says it measures and do the items measure the full range of skills

degree to which the test is able to measure a predetermined behavior or attribute (theoretical construct). considered key to test development stanford-binet

degree to which a new test correlates with an established test of known validity. EVT correalating to the PPVT

test's ability to possibly predict performance. GRE predicting future academic performance (some people may not do well on these types of tests)

• (assessment needs to match the population you are testing)
• used with the wrong population
• age
• ses
• may not identify all areas of disability
• may not fully describe the problem (may only touch the surface)
• how many items on the test for each area (one question doesn't identify a disability)
• outdated version
• revised versions usually have different or expanded populations and norms

• does the child feel comfortable in the testing situation with the tester
• will they guess if they don't know the answer
• will they try to do their best
• understand what they are being asked to do
• standardized tests may ask children to do something that is contrary to their customs therefore them must match their normed group

• 4 types:
• Cultrual linguistic 
• value
• format
• examiner

• content bias
• activities that don't match with the child's experimental base

test items assume a value system different than the child's system

• situational bias
• use of testing procedures, materials or both that is less familiar to some children (not willing to talk to strangers)

• how they administer or interpret tests
• how to modify standardized tests
• collecting lang smaples
•    -take over several sessions in many settings 
•    -have them talk to several people including family
•    -take into consideration lang differences
•    -analyze both form and content in both langs
•    -use structured lang sample techniques to ensure they talk

• look for assessment strategies that are not biased
• extend time limits
• reword instruction
• provide practice of types of items
• evaluate lang of test (ask for things not in the child's native lang)
• use norm referenced tests that allow description of child's skills
•    -CLD children do better on verbal tests so add to battery

suit that claimed that iq test was biased against aa children so in state of ca aa children can not be tested on iq. invalid test.

• assessment of narrative skills to determine if student can retell story with details
• sequence
• organization of info
• relevant/irrelevant comments
• portfolio assessments

• attempt to use those who are from same geographic area/speak the same dialect
• train interpreter
• demonstrate how to use test, how to document student responses
•    -ensure they translate the info to discuss it with you when they have questions
•    -watch them administer the test
•    -take to them about their scoring