Speech Pathology Assessment Resource List: Language Instruments: A Selected Bibliography
Restricted Checkout
Selected speech and language assessment instruments are available for preview and loan only to certified speech and language pathologists (SLPs) who reside or work in Indiana. SLPs may wish to borrow the instruments for preview, training, or for limited use to assess students with low incidence disabilities.
The following materials may be checked out for four weeks from the Center for Disability Information and Referral (CeDIR), Indiana Institute on Disability and Community, Indiana's University Center for Excellence on Disabilities (UCE), 2853 East Tenth Street, Bloomington, IN 47408-2696; 800/437-7924 (toll free; voice/text telephone); 812/855-9396 (Bloomington; voice/text telephone). Due to the sales agreement, a copy of the current SLP license document (i.e., teacher certification or Health Professions Bureau license) must be on file prior to loan of the materials. Additionally, a CeDIR registration card must be completed.
Each instrument is available on a first come, first served basis. There may be a waiting list for a particular item. Only three items can be checked out at one time. People interested in purchasing any of these instruments can contact CeDIR for ordering information. Neither the Institute nor CeDIR confer endorsement of the instruments by listing them below.
It is not always practical for a school district or an agency to purchase extensive speech and language assessment material. The Indiana Institute on Disability and Community has a collection of materials that may assist Indiana speech language pathologists. Some materials are on restricted checkout and others are available to anyone. Suggestions or comments about items can be directed to Beverly Vicker at 812/855-6508 or vickerb@indiana.edu.
Language Instruments
The following restricted checkout assessment tools evaluate some aspect of language. The authors are listed when relevant to prevent confusion between tests of similar names.
Assessment Resource |
Age Range |
Description/Contents |
| Analysis of the Language of Learning (Blodgett) | 5 to 9 years |
Assesses the metalinguistic areas of defining concepts, giving examples of concepts, recognizing concepts, segmenting sentences, generating words, segmenting words, and repairing sentences. |
| ASSET (Assessing Semantic Skills through Everyday Themes) (Barrett) | 3 to 9 years |
Uses receptive and expressive tasks that focus on labels, categories, attributes, functions, and definitions. |
| Bankson Language Test (BLT-2) | 3 to 7 years |
Focuses on semantic knowledge, morphological and syntactical rules, and pragmatics. |
| Boehm Test of Basic Concepts - Preschool Version | 3 to 5 years |
Screens 26 concepts over two response opportunities each; child responds to a "Point to X" strategy. |
| Bracken Basic Concept Inventory-Revised (BBCS-R) | 2 ½ to 8 years |
Measures basic concept knowledge in the areas of color, comparisons, shapes, self/social awareness, direction/position, numbers/counting, letter identification, size, texture/material, and time/sequence. |
| Carolina Picture Vocabulary Test: For Deaf and Hearing Impaired | 4 to 11½ years |
Similar to PPVT but with a smaller national standardization sample. |
| CELF-3 Screening Test | 6 to 21 years |
Screening version of the CELF-3. Takes 10 to 15 minutes to administer. |
| CELF-3 Observational Rating Scales | 6 to 21 years |
Gathers information from home and school environments on listening, speaking, reading and writing. |
| Clinical Evaluation of Language Fundamentals-3 (CELF-3) | 6 to 21 years |
Evaluates a broad range of language skills such as linguistic concepts, formulating sentences, following directions, and listening to paragraphs. |
| Clinical Evaluation of Language Fundamentals-3 Spanish | 6 to 21 years |
Same as CELF-3 only in Spanish. |
| Clinical Evaluation of
Language Fundamentals- Preschool (CELF-P) |
Pre-school to early elementary aged children |
Subtests include basic concepts, sentence and word structure, formulating labels, recalling meaning, and linguistic concepts. |
| Communication Abilities Diagnostic Test (CADeT) (Johnston) | 3 to 9 years |
Tests various language performance in syntax, semantics and pragmatics during story, game, and conversational situations. |
| Comprehensive Receptive & Expressive Vocabulary Test (CREVT) (Wallace and Hammill) | 4 to 18 years |
Measures both receptive and expressive vocabulary using common standardization for both areas. |
| Criterion Referenced Inventory of Language (Wiig) | 4 to 13 years |
Extension testing in the areas of semantics, pragmatics, morphology, and syntax. |
| ECO Program (McDonald and Gillette) | 18 months to 8 years |
Provides tools to evaluate the areas of social play, turn taking, preverbal communication, language, and conversation for children with developmental delays. |
| Evaluating Acquired Skills in Communication, Revised EASIC-R (Riley) | 3 months to 8 years |
Includes an inventory that consists of 5 levels; pre-language and receptive/ expressive skills are surveyed. |
| Evaluating Communicative Competence- Revised Ed. (Simon) | 9 to 17 years |
Consists of 21 informal inventories encompassing language processing, metalinguistics, and functional use of language. |
| Expressive Vocabulary Test (EVT) (Williams) | 2½ to 90 years |
Measures expressive vocabulary and word retrieval in standard English. |
| Functional Communication Profile (Kleiman) | 3 years to adulthood |
Facilitates compilation of skill level information from a variety of areas such as attentiveness, sensory/motor issues, speech, fluency, voice, and pragmatic/ social skills. |
| The HELP
Test-Elementary (Lazzari) |
6 to 11 years |
Assesses general language functioning including vocabulary, semantics, and grammar. |
| Language Processing Test -Revised (LPT-R) (Richard and Hanner) | 5 to 11 years |
Uses tasks for association, categorization, similarities and differences, multiple meaning, and attributes. |
| The Listening Test (Barrett) | 6 to 11 years |
Contains a teacher survey as well as a direct assessment component. Skills targeted included listening for/understanding the main idea, details, concepts, and stories as well as engaging in reasoning. |
| MacArthur Communicative Development Inventories (CDI) | 8 to 30 months |
Evaluates gestures through sentence/early grammar productions. |
| Miller-Yoder Language Comprehension Test | 4 to 8 years |
Evaluates the understanding of short grammatical sentences by using a receptive picture task format. |
| Nonspeech Test (Huer) | Infancy to 48 months |
Tests receptive and expressive skills for nonspeaking children. |
| Oral and Written
Language Scales (OWLS) (Carrow-Woolfolk) |
3 to 21 years oral scale; 5 to 21 years written scale |
Assesses listening comprehension, oral expression, and written expression. |
| Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test III (PPVT-III) | 2½ to 90+ years |
Measures listening comprehension of vocabulary in standard English. |
| Preschool Language Assessment Instrument (PLAI) (Blank) | 3 to 6 years, but can be used with older children with language problems |
Probes for ability to label objects and actions, role-play, respond to conversational interactions, respond to directions, define words, solve problems, etc. |
| Preschool Language Scale -3 (Zimmerman) | Birth to 7 years |
Evaluates auditory comprehension, expressive language and samples articulation and spontaneous language; includes a parent questionnaire. |
| Test de Vocabulario en Imagenes Peabody (TVIP) | 2½ to 18 years |
Contains 125 items from PPVT-R to assess vocabulary of Spanish speaking and bilingual Latino children. |
| Test for Auditory
Comprehension of Language-3 (TACL-3) (Carrow-Woolfolk) |
3 to 10 years |
Measures receptive spoken vocabulary, grammar, and syntax. |
| Test of Adolescent Language - 3 (TOAL-3) | 12 to 24 years |
Tests domains of vocabulary and grammar in areas of listening, speaking, reading, and writing. |
| Test of
Adolescent/Adult Word Finding (TAWF) (German) |
12 to 80 years |
Evaluates picture naming of nouns and verbs, sentence completion naming, description naming, and category naming. |
| Test of Early Language Development-3 (TELD-3) | 2 to 8 years |
Examines receptive and expressive language. |
| Test of Language Competence - Level 1 (Wiig and Secord) | 1½ to 10 years |
Measures metalinguistic performance in the areas of semantics, syntax, and pragmatics. |
| Test of Language Competence - Level 2 (Wiig and Secord) | 9 to 19 years |
Measures metalinguistic skills in the areas of semantics, syntax, and pragmatics. |
| Test of Language
Development- Intermediate-3 (TOLD I:3) |
8 to 12 years |
Examines various aspects of spoken language such as understanding and meaningful use of words and grammar. |
| Test of Language
Development- Primary-3 (TOLD P:3) |
4 to 8 years |
Same as above plus assesses student’s ability to pronounce words and to perform phonological awareness. |
| Test of Pragmatic Language (Phelps-Terasaki and Phelps-Gunn) | 5 to 14 years |
Provides information within six subcomponents of pragmatic language: physical setting, audience, topic, purpose, visual-gestural cues, and abstraction. |
| Test of Problem Solving Adolescent (TOPS) | 12 to 17 years |
Tasks examine thinking skills relating to fairmindedness, affect, oversimplification, clarifying, analyzing, generating solutions, evaluating, and thinking independently. |
| Test of Word Finding (TWF) (German) | 6½ to 13 years |
Evaluates picture naming of nouns and verbs, sentence completion naming, description naming, and category naming. |
| Test of Word Finding in Discourse (TWFD) (German) | 6½ to 13 years |
Examines quantity of verbal discourse and word finding problems. |
| Test of Word Knowledge (Wiig and Secord) |
5 to 17 years |
Evaluates semantic and lexical knowledge through evaluating word definitions, multiple contexts, opposites, synonyms, etc. |
| Test of Written
Language-3 (TOWL-3) |
7½ to 18 years |
Tests domains of vocabulary, syntactical and thematic maturity, spelling, word usage, style, and sentences. |
| The Word Test
-Adolescence (Bowers, et al.) |
12 to 17 years |
Assesses semantic knowledge of brand names, synonyms, signs, and definitions. |
| The Word Test - Revised - Elementary level (Huisingh, et al.) | 7 to 11 years |
Assesses associations, synonyms, semantic absurdities, antonyms, definitions, and multiple definitions. |