Preschool Language Scales-5 Assessing Children from Birth through 7

1. Preschool Language Scales-5Assessing Children from Birth through 7 Nancy Castilleja, MA CCC-SLP September 9, 2011

2. Course objectives describe at least two principles identified by ASHA as best practices in early language assessment identify three key differences between PLS-4 and PLS-5 describe two research studies conducted with the PLS-5

3. Agenda ASHA: best practices in early language assessment PLS-5 vs. PLS-4 Start points Age level placements Scoring PLS-5 Research Studies Development Minimizing Bias Standardization Reliability & Validity Q & A

4. Roles and Responsibilities of SLPs in Early Intervention • www.asha.org /policy • Four guiding principles • family-centered and culturally and linguistically responsive • developmentally supportive and promote participation in natural environments • comprehensive, coordinated, and team based • based on the highest quality evidence available

5. Family-centered and culturally and linguistically responsive • Caregiver participation in testing • Caregiver-selected and caregiver-identified social routines and vocabulary tested for very young children • Extensive bias review and widespread testing with a diverse sample has resulted in • Familiar home vocabulary and contexts • Dialectal, regional, and cultural variations to identify responses that are accepted as correct • Home Communication Questionnaire

6. Sample from the Home Communication Questionnaire

7. Developmentally supportive and promote participation in natural environments • Observation of naturally-occurring behaviors for younger children • Credit given for spontaneous productions in and outside the assessment room • Developmentally appropriate skills assessed

8. Comprehensive, coordinated, and team based • Provides a survey of language skills in the areas of • Social communication • Semantics • Morphology • Syntax • Articulation • Useful for arena assessment; can be administered by professionals in child development teams

9. Based on the highest quality evidence available • Current review of research for item development • Expert review • Current normative data

10. What is new? • Current norms for a wider age range: based on the 2008 update of the U.S. Census for children birth through 7:11 • Streamlined administration, with new suggested start points and test items that involve manipulatives grouped for smoother transitions during testing • New test items in the areas of play, understanding false beliefs, and literacy • New Growth Scale Values, Evidence-based scores you can use to track progress

11. Based on the performance of children in standardization… • New ceiling rule • Basal: 3 consecutive correct responses • Ceiling: 6 (not 7) consecutive errors • Because PLS-5 tests a variety of skills, a child could obtain one or more score points if you discontinue testing earlier

12. Score multiple test items with one procedure

13. New test items • For ages 18-24 months • additional items assessing play • For ages 3 through 4 years • new items assessing book handling and concept of print • 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 understanding prefixes

14. New item: Uses synonyms

15. New Demonstration Item for Understands Size/Sequence Concepts (smallest, biggest)

16. New Practice item: Uses Possessive Pronouns: hers, his

17. Items integrating Theory of Mind concepts • Some items requiring that the child make inferences about another’s feelings or intentions

18. Understanding false beliefs

19. What is different? • Revised test items, based on clinicians’ and reviewers’ feedback • Updated Articulation Screener with picture stimuli • Start points • Age level placements of certain developmental skills • Normative scores

20. Revised Test Items

21. Modified Articulation Screener

22. Frequently Asked Questions

23. Why is “responds to speaker by smiling” now at age 6-8 months? “Start Points” are not developmental age levels

24. “Start Points” are not developmental age levels

25. Why do so many of the PLS-5 test items appear at later age levels than PLS-4? • Some clinicians are confusing the Start Points with Developmental Levels • Criterion change for item placement

27. Why do so many of the PLS-5 test items appear at later age levels than PLS-4? • Some clinicians are confusing the Start Points with Developmental Levels • Criterion change for item placement at developmental levels • The items were modified in some way • The task is different • Sub-items are different • The number of sub-items has changed • The pass criterion has changed

28. Uses past tense Age 4: 7% Age 4:6: 42% Age 5:0: 22% Age 5:6 58% Age 7: 78%

29. PLS-5 age level placements do not match placement from Brown’s studies • According to Owens (2008), the age of mastery for Brown’s developmental milestones is based on the research of: • Bellugi & Brown (1964) • Brown (1973) • Miller (1981) • Demographic characteristics of the sample in 2010 • When you review performance of a high SES sample, performance on PLS-5 tasks match Brown’s seminal research

30. Some children are scoring higher on the PLS-5? I’m concerned that children will no longer qualify for services. • PLS-4/PLS-5 correlational study • N = 134 • Average change: • AC: 1 point lower than PLS-4 • EC: 1.5 points lower than PLS-4 • Total Language: 1 point lower • Range of score change for individuals higher • Protocols we’ve reviewed after publication • Scores sometimes higher, sometimes lower • Performance differences • Item criterion differences • No change in eligibility unless a child qualified with a 77 on PLS-4

31. On the EC scale, the child hardly needs to talk at all at age 2:0! • At age 2:0, 64-71% of the normative sample • Used words more than gestures to communicate • Used words for a variety of pragmatic functions • Used different word combinations That means 29-36% of children did not… • By age 2:6 to 2:11,the majority of the children in the sample met criterion for these behaviors

32. Standardization Research • Over 1800 children were tested for standardization and related reliability and validity studies from December 2009 through August 2010 • The standardization sample was collected by 189 clinicians in 42 states in the United States

33. 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 • Internal consistency: typical • .80-.97 • Internal consistency: disorder • .96 to .98 • Inter-rater reliability: .95 to .98 • Inter-scorer agreement: .91 to 1.0 • Case studies • Autism • Hearing Impairment

34. Sample mirrors March 2008 Update of the U.S. Census: Race/Ethnicity

35. Sample mirrors March 2008 Update of the U.S. Census: Parent Education

36. Sample mirrors March 2008 Update of the U.S. Census: Region

37. Where Children in the PLS-5 Sample Spend the Majority of their Day

38. Are children with disabilities included in the PLS-5 sample?

39. PLS-4/PLS-5 Correlations

40. CELF Preschool-2/PLS-5 Correlations

41. Clinical Study: Developmental Delay

42. Clinical Study: Receptive-Expressive Disorder

43. Sensitivity/Specificity: NPP/PPP with 50% Matched Sample

44. Minimizing Bias • Current literature review • Clinician surveys • Research studies • Pilot • Tryout (includes bias oversample) • Standardization • Statistical analyses of bias • Expert review

48. Questions related to the kit • Do I need to purchase the manipulatives or can I collect my own? • Why can’t we have a Picture Manual we can wipe clean?

49. Questions related to the kit How do you get the bear and the pitcher to fit in the box?

50. I can’t get the bear to sit!