PubMed Health⌕ Search

SEARCH · PubMed Health

Results for “Language Tests”

Explore indexed PubMed citations for clinical trials, systematic reviews and public health research. Read source abstracts and follow each citation to its original PubMed record.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
PubMed2006

Standardised speech-language tests and students with intellectual disability: a review of normative data.

BACKGROUND: Before a school speech-language pathologist (SLP) utilises a standardised speech-language test with a student with intellectual disability (ID), the clinician should carefully consider the purpose of the test and whether the test includes students with ID in the normative group. METHOD: This project reviewed 49 tests published between 1994 and 2004 and their applicability to students with ID. RESULTS: Students with mild ID were included in the norm group for 23 of the tests, but no tests included students with more significant ID. Separate norms for students with mild ID were included in 15 tests, but none met Salvia & Ysseldyke's (1995) suggested requirement that at least 100 students be included to represent a specific subgroup. A majority of the tests assessed receptive and expressive vocabulary, syntax, and grammar but no recent test measured a student's pragmatic communication. CONCLUSIONS: Clinicians are encouraged to supplement standardised tests with non-standardised procedures to document students' pragmatic, social, and functional communication abilities.

Humans↗
PubMed1994

The variability of language test scores in 3- and 4-year-old children of normal non-verbal intelligence: a brief research report.

Language testing plays an important role in the identification and monitoring of children with communication difficulties. However, the standardisation of many tests in common use remains far from satisfactory, especially at the lower age ranges. Comparisons between age-equivalent scores and chronological age also raise particular problems. The present paper focuses on the disparity between scores on different tests, in spite of the homogeneity of the group of children studied, and stresses the need for caution in the interpretation of test scores.

Child, Preschool↗
PubMed2005

Correlation of Functional Independence Measure for Children (WeeFIM) with developmental language tests in children with developmental delay.

The Functional Independence Measure for Children (WeeFIM) is a simple tool for assessing the functional independence of three domains: mobility, self-care, and cognition. Children are usually apprehensive about performing standardized structured language or developmental tests, and only licensed professionals can administer standardized tests. We attempted to apply the Functional Independence Measure for Children for assessing children with developmental delay and to assess for any correlation of these scores with standardized language tests. We recruited 49 children with developmental delay, and the Functional Independence Measure for Children was administered. Two standardized language tests (Symbolic Play Test and Reynell Language Developmental Scale) were administered to assess language age. There was a significant correlation between Functional Independence Measure for Children scores with both verbal comprehension age and verbal expression age. There was no correlation of Functional Independence Measure for Children scores with gender, age, or having domestic helpers. Having trained staff administer the Functional Independence Measure for Children can reliably correlate the current language ability of a child with developmental delay; thus, the test can be used as a quick screening tool for targeted training.

Activities of Daily Living↗
PubMed2003

Exploring aphasic grammar. 2: Do language testing and conversation tell a similar story?

This paper investigates the grammatical difficulties of an English-speaking person with non-fluent aphasia using clinical assessments based on picture description and story telling. The same individual's conversation grammar, which was investigated in detail in a linked article is reviewed here, and the notion that interactional grammatical phenomena may not necessarily be visible in elicited language data is explored. Data analysis shows that the aphasic speaker's grammar looks considerably different in the context of clinical assessment than it does in conversation. Analysis of elicited grammar reveals that the majority of utterances produced are subject-verb-object (SVO) type sentences, whereas prior analysis of conversation data indicated patterns of interactional grammatical phenomena that differ from such sentence types. It is suggested that language tests and conversation provide complementary but essentially different information about grammatical abilities. The clinical implications of this finding are discussed.

Adult↗
PubMed2002

Language development in hearing-impaired children. Establishment of a reference material for a 'Language test for hearing-impaired children', LATHIC.

OBJECTIVE: In Sweden, there has previously been no normalised test material for the evaluation of language development in individual hearing-impaired children, and for the assessment of various methods of auditory habilitation. The purpose of the present study was to compose, apply and evaluate a test for language development in hearing-impaired children, and to establish the first set of reference values related to age, sex, type and degree of hearing impairment. METHODS: A test consisting of nine subtests was assembled and developed for, and subsequently applied to, hearing-impaired children in the age range 4-6 years. The inclusion criteria were a pure tone average of 80 dBHL or less and oral language (Swedish) as the first language. Two hundred and eleven hearing-impaired children and 87 normal hearing control children were tested. RESULTS: The results show that: (1) children with hearing impairment-also unilateral-have a delayed language development; (2) the delay is greater in children with larger losses and tends to decrease with increasing age; (3) 6-year-olds with hearing loss greater than 60 dB have not reached the level of the control group; (4) no difference between right- or left sided deafness with respect to language development was observed; (5) a reference material, applicable during clinical assessment, was established for the most common types of hearing impairment. CONCLUSIONS: The test designed gave graded measures of important aspects of language development in hearing-impaired children. The results merit further application of the test material.

Analysis of Variance↗
PubMed1986

A comparison of unilaterally hearing-impaired children and normal-hearing children on a battery of standardized language tests.

A group of 25 normal-hearing children aged 6 to 13 years was compared to a group of 25 children manifesting a unilateral hearing impairment of at least 45 dB HL. The two groups were matched on age, I.Q., socio-economic status, sex, and race. Thirty-two percent of the hearing-impaired children failed a grade in school, while none of the normal-hearing children failed. This group of children who failed in school exhibited verbal I.Q.s which were significantly lower than those children who succeeded in school. However, few differences were found between the two groups on a battery of standardized language tests.

Achievement↗
PubMed2000

The effects of childhood residence in Japan and testing language on cognitive performance in late life among Japanese American men in Hawaii.

OBJECTIVES: To examine the association of years spent in Japan during childhood with cognitive test performance in late life among Japanese American men, and to assess the influence of the language used for testing on this association. DESIGN: A cross-sectional study. SETTING/PARTICIPANTS: A total of 3734 Japanese American men, aged 71-93 years, who were first- or second-generation migrants and living on Oahu Island, Hawaii. MEASUREMENTS: The outcome variable was cognitive test performance assessed using the Cognitive Abilities Screening Instrument (CASI), which was developed for cross-cultural studies of cognitive impairment. The explanatory variable of main interest was the number of years spent in Japan during school-age childhood years (ages 6-17). The associations of CASI scores with childhood years in Japan was evaluated using a stepwise multiple linear regression model in which a total of 40 potential confounders were included as covariates. RESULTS: In the total sample, there was an inverse association between CASI scores and middle childhood years in Japan. This association remained significant after controlling for age, education, socioeconomic status, traditional Japanese food consumption, pulmonary function, apolipoprotein E4, proficiency in speaking Japanese, and other possible confounders. When data were analyzed separately for subgroups according to the language preferred at testing (English or Japanese), associations between childhood years in Japan and CASI scores were in opposite directions negative for the group tested in English and positive for the group tested in Japanese. The interaction between the testing language and childhood years in Japan was statistically significant. CONCLUSIONS: There was an inverse association between years spent in Japan during school-age years of childhood and cognitive test performance in late life. This association could not be accounted for by age, education, or other confounding factors. However, this finding was not observed in participants who preferred being tested in Japanese. To assess cognitive test performance in older people, it is of prime importance to use the most optimal language for testing, usually the subject's native language.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1994

Preliminary evidence on the question of gender differences in language testing of older people.

The effect of gender on the outcomes of language assessments in older people is relatively unknown. This study compared the performance of groups of normal older men and women on three different batteries of language and memory tests. No significant mean score difference was found. All three batteries therefore show no strong quantitative gender bias and can be applied equally to older men and women with communication difficulties. Although no quantitative gender difference was found, the data suggested two possible areas for further investigation (error types and interpersonal styles) which may have clinical implications.

Aged↗
PubMed1994

Gender bias in language testing.

Although our profession is concerned with recruiting males, we must continue to be concerned about equality for females. The negative influence of gender bias on women and their roles has been addressed by the professions in terms of language use (Lynch, 1983) and discrimination in academic settings (Davis, 1994). But we have not considered standardized test bias related to women. Since language is generally recognized as a major conveyor of the societal bias against women, a reasonable question to ask is, Do language tests reflect a gender bias?

Female↗
PubMed2004

Paradigm design of sensory-motor and language tests in clinical fMRI.

Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) paradigms on sensory-motor and language functions are reviewed from a clinical user's perspective. The objective was to identify special requirements regarding the design of fMRI paradigms for clinical applications. A wide range of methods for setting up fMRI examinations were found in the literature. It was concluded that there is a need for standardised procedures adapted for clinical settings. Sensory-motor activation patterns do not vary much at different hand motion tasks. Nevertheless it is one of the most important clinical tests. In contrast, the language system is much more complex. In several studies it has been observed that word production tasks are preferable in determination of language lateralisation. Broca's area is activated by most tasks, whereas sentence processing and semantic decision also involve activation in temporoparietal and frontal areas. However, combined task analysis (CTA) of several different tasks has been found to be more robust and reliable for clinical fMRI compared to separate task analysis.

Brain Mapping↗