On the CE report specific to the language assessment, the CE provider will provide
accurate data about the child’s level of functioning and the following, as appropriate:
a. Administer a current, standardized, comprehensive language battery that is appropriate
for the child’s age. “Current” means the most recently published version of the test
instrument. The test report should:
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1.
State the full title of the test(s) and include the test and subtest means and standard
deviations.
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2.
List the child’s total language standard score (SS), area composite SSs, and individual
subtest SSs. When a test provides quotients rather than SSs, report these instead.
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3.
Indicate when the child’s score falls below the lowest SS provided.
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4.
Indicate if the child needed repetition of items for tests that allow for repetition
and, if so, how often.
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5.
Provide an analysis, while also addressing and providing an account for any unusual
scores, of the errors in the interpretation section and discuss the potential effect
on school performance involving language comprehension and expression.
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6.
State whether the test results are a true representation of the child’s capabilities
given their cooperation, interest, attention and concentration, and any other variables
that might affect performance (for example, other medical conditions, medication use
or nonuse, energy and motivation).
Our general expectation is that the transition to using the latest version of a test
occurs no more than one year after publication.
b. Supplement formal test results with a parent report instrument (such as the MacArthur-Bates
Communicative Development Inventories), when the child’s language age falls below
36 months.
c. Based on a spontaneous language sample, document clinical observations and descriptions
of the child’s overall receptive and expressive language skills. In the report, include:
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1.
Information on language content and form, such as the child’s ability to follow multi-step
directions, express ideas with age-appropriate mean length of utterance, use and maintain
social gaze or eye contact, provide comments relevant to the discussion, ask or answer
questions, and produce grammatically correct sentences for age.
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2.
A description of pragmatic skills, such as the child’s ability to:
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a.
Engage in verbal and nonverbal turn-taking;
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b.
Initiate and maintain conversational topics;
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c.
Identify and repair miscommunications;
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d.
Request, respond, direct, and comment; and
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e.
Retell experiences and events.
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3.
Information about development of narrative skills as it relates to the child’s chronological
age. For example, does a child age 6 or older produce narratives that have intact
basic story structure? Does a child age 12 or older generate coherent stories using
the appropriate language (such as pronouns or conjunctions) to associate elements
of one sentence to those of another?
d. Document relevant information obtained through parent or caregiver report regarding
the child’s language understanding and production.
e. Compare the child’s receptive and expressive language skills to those of typically
developing, same-age peers, using substantive descriptions (versus a general, single
statement of age-appropriateness) and provide examples.