A Play and Story-Telling Probe for Assessing Early Language Content

Abstract

A naturalistic probe of early language content was designed based on the developmental sequence described by Bloom and her colleagues (e.g., Bloom & Lahey, 1978; Lahey, 1988). Thirty-one children, normally-developing and between three and five years of age, were subjects in the study. The productivity of three different strategies for eliciting twenty-seven content categories was tested, and the efficiency of the probe technique was compared with analysis of language samples for content. Results suggest that this nonstandardized, criterion-referenced assessment tool can be combined with standardized testing and language sample analysis to enhance validity, comprehensiveness, and efficiency.

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