and looking through picture books may also be helpful.

'While you are conversing with

the child, tw using words inappropriately or making nonsense remarks and note the
child's response. When assessing semantic skills, note the following:

Unusual use of words

Incorrect word substitutions
Overgeneralizations
Undergeneralizations
Frequent use of empty words such as thing or that
Word finding problems, such as circumlocutions, repetitions, and frequent pauses
Types of words (e.g., function, prepositions, negatives, descriptive)
Excessive use of pronouns
Frequent use of routinized expressions such as you know
Unusual sentence formulations
Difficulty with word comprehension

Difficulty with sentence comprehension

Poor understanding of nonliteral forms (e.g., idioms, metaphors, proverbs) Poor

understanding of common slang terms

CHAPTER B Assessment of Language 249

Determining the Type-Token Ratio

The type-token ratio (VI'R) is an easy-to-calculate measure of functional vocabulary

skills. The ratio reflects the diversity of words used by the client during the language
sample. Templin (1957) reported that normally developing children between the ages of
three and eight years have 'ITRs of .45—.50. A substandard TI'R is one indicator of an
expressive language delay or disorder. Rernember, though, you must avoid using this
kind of nonnative data as a single or primary method for establishing a diagnosis.
After you have transcribed the language sample, number every new word produced by the
child. fie last number you write is the number of different words produced. To calculate the
TI'R, divide the number of different words by the total number of words in the sample. For
example:

100 different words

200 total words

Retherford (1993) presents a modification of the 'ITR. Rather than count all the
different words, count the different types of words used in the sample. She uses the
following word types: nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, prepositions, pronouns,
conjunctions, afttirmatives (yeah, okay, etc.) and negatives (no, not, etc.), articles, and
wh- words (who, where, etc.). Calculations are made by dividing the number of each
different type of word by the total number of words in the sample. This method allows
you to evaluate the diversity of word types used by your client, Form 8-8, 'Type-Token
Ratio for Assessment of Semantic Skills." is a worksheet you can use to itemize word-
type frequencies tor the TI*R calculatiou. Under the appropriate column, record first-
time productions of each word noted during the language sample. Each time your client
uses a word already recorded, tally thc repeated production next to the original entry.
For example:

(l production of this word)

(2 productions)
(4 productions)
no
 (7 productions)

ASSESSMENT OF SYNTACTIC SKILLS

Syntax refers to sentence structure. Our English language is based on many syntactic
structurcs, making syntax a difficult area to assess. A solid understanding of the basic
syntactic elements of language is necessary before any type of analysis can be
completed. 'Ibe various parts of speech are summarized below. For more in-depth study,
wc recommend you consult a book on English grammar and form. There are eight parts
of speech:

Noun: A word that represents a person, place or thing (e.g.,flovver, family, anger)
Pronoun: A word that takes the place of a noun (e.g., I, it, this. which)
Adjective: A word that modifies a noun or pronoun, usually by description (e.g., happy,
long, difficult)
Verb: A word that indicates action or a state of being (e.g., run, make, have, am)