Chapter 5 notes: Language assessment

Kendra Riemermann

Verbal, nonverbal, speech, language assessment

Speech disorders: clarity, voice quality, fluency
Language disorders: hold conversations, understand others, problem solve, read/comprehend,
express thoughts
The most important thing is whether a child is making progress, not whether they have hit
certain milestones at a certain time
Many things affect a child's developmental speed, and they're not all bad. Reminds me of the debate
over teaching babies to sign; they have a lot to learn, and some things are going to slow things
down for a while, but it doesn't mean they're "behind"
Speech disorders:
articulation: omission, substitution, distortion
voice: pitch, loudness, or quality of sound
fluency: interruptions in flow
receptive vs expressive language
rapid automized naming (RAN): word-finding problems; like aphasia? Isn't that what I've heard
that called before?
Semantics: language code
figurative language
syntax (form)
pragmatics: use or purpose of language
ELL students overrepresented as having language/speech disorders
CLD: culturally or linguistically diverse (new term to me. Means EL or ELL or ESL?)
Be careful to distinguish between disorder and difference. Seems like good advice during all
instruction/assessment
Second language acquisition: interference, silent period, language loss
basic interpersonal communication skills (BICS)
cognitive academic language proficiency (CALP)
when assessing CLP students, assess in both languages and in multiple ways