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Speech Pathology Assessment Resource Guide: Language Instruments


Restricted Checkout

A portion of our speech and language assessment instruments are available for preview and loan only to certified speech and language pathologists (SLPs) who live 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 CeDIR. 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. Unrestricted materials listed on the "Related Resource Materials" guide may be checked out by any Indiana resident.

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 Description/Contents Call Number
Bracken Basic Concept Scale: Expressive (BBCS:E) 3 to 6 years Screen concepts of color, letters/sounds, numbers/counting, size, shape, direction/position, self/social awareness, texture/materials, quality, and time/sequencing. 11 .B733 2006
Bracken Basic Concept Scale 3rd Edition: Receptive (BBCS:3R) 3 to 6 years Same concepts as previous level. 11 .B73 2006
CELF-3 Screening Test 6 to 21 years Screening version of the CELF-3. Takes 10 to 15 minutes to administer. 11 .S452
CELF-3 Observational Rating Scale 6 to 21 years Gathers information from home and school environments on listening, speaking, reading and writing. 11 .S453
CELF-3 Spanish Clinical Evaluation of Language Fundamentals-3 6 to 21 years Evaluates a broad range of language skills such as linguistic concepts, formulating sentences, following directions, and listening to paragraphs.
CELF-4 Clinical Evaluation of Language Fundamentals-4 5 to 21 years Evaluates a broad range of language skills such as recalling and formulating sentences, word classes, word definition, understanding spoken paragraphs, semantic relationships, etc. 11 .S45 2003
CELF-P Clinical Evaluation of Language Fundamentals-Preschool Pre-school to early elementary aged children Subtests include basic concepts, sentence and word structure, formulating labels, recalling meaning, and linguistic concepts. 11 .W545 2004
Children's Communication Checklist-2 (U.S. Edition) 4 to 16 years Parent or caregiver rating scale for speech, syntax, semantics, coherence, initiation, scripted language, context, and nonverbal communication. 11 .C45
Communication Abilities Diagnostic Test (CADeT) (Johnson) 3 to 9 years Tests various language performance in syntax, semantics and pragmatics during story, game, and conversational situations. 11 .J65
Comprehensive Assessment of Spoken Language (CASL) 3 to 21 years Assesses language processing skills and knowledge. 11 .C3
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. 11 .W35
Criterion Referenced Inventory of Language (Wiig) 4 to 13 years Extension testing in the areas of semantics, pragmatics, morphology, and syntax. 11 .W552
Emerging Literacy Language Assessment (ELLA) 4.5 to 9 years Screens phonological awareness and flexibility; sign and symbol recognition and interpretation; memory, retrieval and automaticity. 11 .E4
Evaluating Communicative Competence-Revised Ed. (Simon) 9 to 17 years Consists of 21 informal inventories encompassing language processing, metalinguistics, and functional use of language. 11 .S55 1986
Expressive Vocabulary Test (EVT) (Williams) 2.5 to 90 years Measures expressive vocabulary and word retrieval in standard English. 11 .W562
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 pragmatics/social skills. 11 .K54 2003
Kaufman Speech Praxis Test for Children Pre-school Diagnostic procedures for developmental apraxia; basic level treatment kit also available. 11 .K382
Language Processing Test-Revised (LPT-R) (Richard and Hanner) 5 to 11 years Uses tasks for association, categorization, similarities and differences, multiple meanings, and attributes. 11 .R53 1995
Listening Comprehension Test Adolescents 12 to 17 years Subtests require students to listen for a purpose such as main area, details, reasoning, vocabulary and semantics, and understanding messages. 11 .L5
MacArthur-Bates Communication Development Inventories (1-3) 3-37 months Three inventories to probe parent report on gestures, words, and sentence use. 11 .M33
Montgomery Assessment of Vocabulary Acquisition (MAVA) 3 to 11 years Receptive/expressive evaluation of the 3 tiers of vocabular-basic, high frequency and curriculum based. 11 .M3
Nonspeech Test (Huer) Infancy to 48 months Tests receptive and expressive skills for nonspeaking children. 11 .H84 1988
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. 11 .C362
Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test III (PPVT III) 2.5 to 90+ years Measures listening comprehension of vocabulary in standard English. 11 .D83 1997
Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test 4 Form A (PPVT-4) 2.5 to 90+ years Measures the receptive (hearing) vocabulary of children and adults. 11 .D83 2007 Form A
Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test 4 Form B (PPVT-4) 2.5 to 90+ years Measures the receptive (hearing) vocabulary of children and adults. 11 .D83 2007 Form B
Pragmatic Language Observation Scale (PLOS) 8 to 18 years Designed to assess students’ daily classroom spoken language behaviors. 11 .N48
Pragmatic Language Skills Inventory (PLSI) 5 to 12 years Designed to assess children's pragmatic language abilities. 11 .G52
PLAI 2-Preschool Language Assessment Instrument (Blank) 3 to 6 years, but can be used with older children Probes for ability to label objects and actions, role-play, respond to conversational interactions, respond to directions, define words, solve problems etc. 11 .B495 2003
Preschool Language Scale, 4th ed (PLS4)(Zimmerman) Birth to 7 years Evaluates maturational lags, strengths, and deficiencies by testing auditory comprehension and verbal ability. 11 .Z5 2002
Rice Wexler Test of Early Grammatical Impairment 3 to 8 years Uses manipulative tasks and pictures to assess early morphemes and sentence structure. 11 .R6
Social Emotional Evaluation (SEE) 6 to 11 years Assesses ability to recognize and label emotions, comprehend social and emotional situations, and understand conflicting messages. 11 .S63
Social Language Development Test Elementary 12 to 17 years Assesses language-based skills of social interpretation and interaction with friends, the skills found to be most predictive of social language development. 11 .S6
Social Language Development Test Adolescent 6 to 11 years Assesses students' language-based responses to portrayed, peer-to-peer situations. 11 .S635
Test de Vocabulario en Imagenes Peabody (TVIP) 2.5 to 18 years Contains 125 items from PPVT-R to assess vocabulary of Spanish speaking and bilingual Latino children. 11 .D83 1981 SPAN.
Test for Auditory Comprehension of Language-3 (TACL-3) (Carrow-Woolfolk) 3 to 10 years Measures receptive spoken vocabulary grammar, and syntax. 11 .C36 1999
Test of Adolescent Language-4 (TOAL-4) 12 to 24 years Tests domains of vocabulary and grammar in areas of listening, speaking, reading, and writing. 11 .T4 2007
Test of Adolescent/Adult Word Finding (TAWF) (D. J. German) 12 to 80 years Evaluates picture naming of nouns and verbs, sentence completion naming, description naming, and category naming. 11 .G475
Test of Aided Communication Symbol Performance (TASP) Children through adults Provides starting point for AAC intervention by screening symbol size and number of items, grammatical encoding, categorization, and syntactical performance. 11 .B78
Test of Early Language Development-3 (TELD-3) 2 to 8 years Examines receptive and expressive language. 11 .H74 1999
Test of Language Competence-Levels 1 & 2 (Wiig and Secord) 1.5 to 10 years Level 1; 9-19 years Level 2 Evaluates metalinguistic performance in the areas of semantics, syntax, and pragmatics. 11 .W551
Test of Narrative Language 5 to 11 years Measures ability to answer comprehension questions and ability to generate a story. 11 .G5
Test of pragmatic language: 2 (2nd ed. of TOPL) 6 to 18 years Assesses knowledge about situational social interaction; also contains a metacognitive pragmatic evaluative component. 11 .P44 2007
Test of Problem Solving-3: Elementary (TOPS-3) 6 to 11 years Addresses language based critical thinking skills. 11 .T661 2005
Test of Problem Solving Adolescent (TOPS) 12 to 17 years Tasks examine thinking skills relating to fair mindedness, affect, oversimplification, clarifying, analyzing, generating solutions, evaluating, and thinking independently. 11 .T661
Test of Word Finding (TWF-2) (D. J. German) 6.5 to 13 years Evaluates picture naming of nouns and verbs, sentence completion naming, description naming and category naming. 11 .G47 2000
Test of Word Finding in Discourse (TWFD) (D. J. German) 6.5 to 13 years Examines quantity of verbal discourse and word finding problems. 11 .G472
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. 11 .W553
Test of Written Language-3 (TOWL-3) 7.5 to 18 years Tests domains of vocabulary, syntactical and thematic maturity, spelling, word usage, style, and sentences. 11 .H311 1996
WH Question Comprehension Test (Vicker) 3 years and upward for verbal children Screening test for who, what, where, when, why, and how question forms and answer type match. 42.1 .V523
The Word Test 2-Adolescent 12-18 years Assesses associations, antonyms, synonyms, definitions, semantic absurdities, and flexible word use. 11 .W65 2005
The Word Test 2-Elementary 6 to 11 years Questions expressive language and semantic skills in association, synonyms, semantic absurdities, antonyms, definitions, and multiple meanings. 11 .W65 2004