Law & Policy
(Petersen, Gragg & Spencer, 2018) Predicting reading problems 6 years into the future: Dynamic assessment reduces bias and increases classification accuracy
This study investigated the effectiveness of a dynamic assessment task in accurately identifying kindergarteners, especially those from CLD backgrounds, that would continue to need reading intervention and support up to 6 years into the future.
(Nippold, Mansfield, Billow & Tomblin, 2008) Expository Discourse in Adolescents With Language Impairments: Examining Syntactic Development
This study investigated the effectiveness of expository discourse language sample analysis in differentiating between typically developing and language impaired adolescents.
(Justice et al, 2006) The Index of Narrative Microstructure: A Clinical Tool for Analyzing School-Age Children’s Narrative Performances
This study investigated measures and developed a tool for analyzing narrative microstructure.
(Nippold, Hesketh, Duthie & Mansfield, 2005) Conversational Versus Expository Discourse: A Study of Syntactic Development in Children, Adolescents, and Adults
This study investigated the development syntax in conversational versus expository discourse across the lifetime.
(Henderson, Restrepo, & Aiken, 2018) Dynamic Assessment of Narratives Among Navajo Preschoolers
This study investigates the use of narrative dynamic assessment in decreasing overidentification of students from American Indian communities as language impaired.
(Peterson, Chanthongthip, Ukrainetz, Spencer & Steeve, 2017) Dynamic assessment of narratives: Efficient, accurate identification of language impairment in bilingual students
This study investigated dynamic assessment in evaluations among SLPs and explored whether different procedures would increase its use.
(Betz, Eickhoff, & Sullivan, 2013) Factors Influencing the Selection of Standardized Tests for the Diagnosis of Specific Language Impairment
This study investigated how and why SLPs choose standardized assessments in their practice.
(Gibson, Peña & Bedore, 2018) The Receptive-Expressive Gap in English Narratives of Spanish-English Bilingual Children With and Without Language Impairment
This study investigated narrative development in bilingual children as well as the possibility of an expressive-receptive language gap in the children’s L2.
(Arias & Friberg, 2017) Bilingual Language Assessment: Contemporary Versus Recommended Practice in American Schools
This study compared current school-based SLP bilingual language assessment practices to those identified by Caesar and Kohler in 2007.
(Pavelko, Owens, Ireland, & Hahs-Vaughn, 2016) Use of Language Sample Analysis by School-Based SLPs: Results of a Nationwide Survey.
This study sought to understand school-based SLPs use a of language sample analysis in assessment.
(Hendricks & Adlof, 2017) Language Assessment With Children Who Speak Nonmainstream Dialects: Examining the Effects of Scoring Modifications in Norm-Referenced Assessment
This study investigated the accuracy of using modified scoring procedures on standardized tests in accurately differentiating between typically developing and language impaired nonmainstream dialect speakers.
(Hamilton, Angulo-Jiménez, Taylo, & DeThorne, 2018) Clinical Implications for Working With Nonmainstream Dialect Speakers: A Focus on Two Filipino Kindergartners
This study investigates the status of Nonmainstream dialect speakers by comparing the language development of two kindergarten boys speaking Philippine English (PE). It investigates the usefulness of standardized tests as well as current level of academic language support with these populations.
NYCDOE Initial Guidance Document for Speech and Language Evaluators
This document is based upon the requirements of the federal, state, and city law, regulations, and policies.
(Burns, de Villiers, Pearson, & Champion 2012) Dialect-Neutral Indices of Narrative Cohesion and Evaluation
This study investigated the usefulness of specific narrative elements determined to be “dialect neutral” in discriminating between typically developing and language impaired speakers, regardless of dialect status (General American English vs. African American English).
ASHA 2015 Presentation- Addressing Disproportionate Referral of Diverse Students
Cate Crowley from Teachers College, Columbia University along with Tia Washington and Diane El-Sawaf from the New York City Department of Education (NYCDOE) discuss measures taken to combat the over referral of students from diverse backgrounds for special education services.
Initial Template for Speech-Language Evaluators
Dr. Cate Crowley created this document to support speech language pathologists in appropriate disability determination, from carrying out the assessment to writing a quality report. Included here is a template along with the law, policy, and research supporting it as best practice in identifying individuals with disability.
(Dollaghan & Campbell, 1998) Nonword Repetition and Child Language Impairment
This article was one of the first to investigate nonword repetition as dynamic assessment. It also highlighted its importance as a less biased measure of language impairment for individuals from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds.
(August & Shanahan, 2008) Developing Reading and Writing in Second Language Learners
A summary of the National Literacy Panel’s findings with regard to evidence based literacy instructions for English Language Learners and suggestions for clinicians and educators.
Use of Standardized Scores for Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Children ages 3-21
This is a special education field advisory that was released in December, 2014. It details the use of standardized scores with culturally and linguistically diverse children.
(Hasson et al., 2013) Discriminating Disorder from Difference Using Dynamic Assessment with Bilingual Children
This study builds on recent evidence of the usefulness of dynamic assessment (DA) along with a mediated learning experience (MLE) and graduated prompting as a more appropriate method of determining the presence of language disorder (LD) in culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) children.
(Alt, Meyers, & Figueroa 2013) Factors That Influence Fast Mapping in Children Exposed to Spanish and English
The current study asked whether bilingual children would show less advantage in fast-mapping high-probability words as a result of interference from the second language (in this case Spanish) when compared to monolingual (English) children.
(LEADERSproject.org) What’s Wrong With Labeling a Child With a Disability When the Child Does Not Have One?
This document relays some important points about why practitioners must take care when labeling children as having a disability or not because of the effects it can have on their academic futures.
NYCDOE Preschool Evaluations Fall 2011 Memo
This document presents why a shift in approach to disability evaluation of preschoolers from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds is needed.
Guidelines for NYSED Preschool Evaluations June 2013
This memo outlines current issues in the speech and language evaluation process in New York.
(National Research Council, 2002) Minority Students in Special and Gifted Education
This article highlighted the role that evaluators play in perpetuating the achievement gap between students from different socioeconomic backgrounds.
(Spaulding, Swartwout Szulga, & Figueroa, 2012) Using Norm-Referenced Tests to Determine Severity of Language Impairment in Children: Disconnect Between U.S. Policy Makers and Test Developers
This study has exposed the disconnect between research, state and federal law, and clinical practice.
(Wolfram, Adger & Christian, 1999) Dialects in Schools and Communities
This is a textbook for educators and clinicians working with children whose primary deficits differ from the Standard American English (SAE) normally taught in schools.
(Kapantzoglou, Restrepo, & Thompson, 2012) Dynamic Assessment of Word Learning Skills: Identifying Language Impairment in Bilingual Children
The purpose of this article was to determine whether dynamic assessment (DA) of word learning was accurate in identifying the presence of language impairment (LI) in preschool-age bilingual children who are often misidentified as language impaired under current assessment practices due to flawed assessment procedures.
(Olswang, Rodriguez, & Timler, 1998) Recommending Intervention for Toddlers With Specific Language Learning Difficulties: We May Not Have All the Answers, But We Know a Lot
This review analyzed the literature available at the time in order to compile characteristics that would enable early intervention (EI) providers to distinguish between children who are “late talkers” but will likely catch up to their peers without therapy (as the majority do) and those who truly have a language disorder.
Knowledge and Skills Needed by Speech-Language Pathologists and Audiologists to Provide Culturally and Linguistically Appropriate Services
This is a policy document published by the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) establishing its position on what skills are needed by speech language pathologists in order to work competently with culturally and linguistically diverse clients.
(Vance & Plante, 1994) Selection of Preschool Language Tests: A Data-Based Approach
This article demonstrated that despite the 10 years that had passed between the publication of McCauley and Swisher (1984) and this article, the vast majority of commercially available norm-referenced tests did not provide psychometric measures deemed necessary in order to establish a test as valid.
(McCauley & Swisher, 1984) Psychometric Review of Language and Articulation Tests for Preschool Children
This was one of the first of many articles publishing research demonstrating the severe limitations of using commercially available child language tests when assessing children for speech and language disability.
(Klingner & Edwards 2006) Cultural Considerations with Response to Intervention Models
This article describes a framework for schools and other educational institutions to follow in order to begin to implement RTI with their own students.
(Spaulding, Plante, & Farinella, 2006) Eligibility Criteria for Language Impairment: Is the Low End of Normal Always Appropriate?
This article demonstrates how many standardized tests do not even provide information about validity and reliability.
(Peña & Quinn, 1997) Task Familiarity: Effects on the Test Performance of Puerto Rican and African American Children
This study illustrates how important it is for an evaluator to be familiar with both the typical language practices of the communities they work in as well as the bias inherent in many of the standardized tests that are used to determine disability.
(Paradis, 2005) Grammatical Morphology in Children Learning English as a Second Language: Implications of Similarities with Specific Language Impairment
This study provided evidence that typically developing children acquiring English exhibit errors on standardized tests that are similar to the performance of monolingual children with specific language impairment.
(Pruitt & Oetting, 2009) Past Tense Marking by African American English-Speaking Children Reared in Poverty AND Passive Participle Marking by African American English-Speaking Children Reared in Poverty
These studies represent more evidence against the use of standardized tests when assessing the linguistic abilities of culturally or linguistically diverse (CLD) children.
(Umbel, Pearson, Fernandez & Oller, 1992) Measuring Bilingual Children’s Receptive Vocabularies
This study showed that examining only one of a bilingual child’s languages does not provide an accurate representation of the child’s linguistic knowledge.
(Roseberry-McKibbin, 2008) Introduction to Poverty- Variables Affecting Students’ Performance
Roseberry-McKibbin provides an overview of factors to consider when examining the performance of children who come from low socioeconomic status backgrounds.
(Restrepo, 1998) Identifiers of Predominantly Spanish-Speaking Children with Language Impairment
This study proved that measures other than standardized language assessments can more accurately identify language impairment in culturally and linguistically diverse children (in this case monolingual Spanish speakers).
(Horton-Ikard & Weismer, 2007) A Preliminary Examination of Vocabulary and Word Learning in African American Toddlers From Middle and Low Socioeconomic Status Homes
This study added to the growing body of literature demonstrating a correlation between socioeconomic status and performance on standardized vocabulary tests.
(Hart & Risley, 1995) Meaningful Differences in the Everyday Experience of Young American Children
This study presented the findings and implications for clinicians, educators, and policy makers after recording all interactions between caregivers and children, from age 7 months to 3 years old, in different socioeconomic classes for 1 hour per week.
(Harry & Klingner, 2006) Why Are So Many Minority Students in Special Education? Understanding Race and Disability in Schools
This book addresses the constellation of factors that have contributed to the misidentification of minority/culturally and linguistically diverse children as needing special education services and provides suggestions for improving the special education referral process.
(Dollaghan & Horner, 2011) Bilingual Language Assessment: A Meta-Analysis of Diagnostic Accuracy
Authors conducted a meta-analysis of diagnostic studies for language impairment in bilingual children and found a serious lack of necessary psychometric measures in the vast majority of studies examined.
(Bedore et al., 2012) The Measure Matters: Language Dominance Profiles across Measures in Spanish–English Bilingual Children
An examination between second language exposure and morphosyntactic and semantic development in preschoolers.
(Barac & Bialystok, 2011) Cognitive Development of Bilingual Children
This article examines the benefits and differences of bilingual children’s linguistic and cognitive development.
