Nickola W. Nelson, PhD, CCC-SLP, BCS-CL: Brookes Publishing Co., Inc.: Financial - Royalty (Ongoing); ISHA: Financial - Speaking Fee (Ongoing); U.S. Inst of Education Sciences: Financial - Grants (Terminated, December 1, 2015). No non-financial relationships to disclose
ABSTRACT Comprehensive assessment of oral and written language abilities of school-age children and adolescents with suspected developmental language disorders (DLD) and dyslexia depends on a combination of formal and informal tools. In this seminar, participants will review methods for assessing written language expression across grade levels, K-12, using both formal tools, such as the TILLS*, TOWL, and SPELL-Links, complemented by informal procedures for conducting curriculum-based language assessment and intervention focused on written language samples and a writing process approach. Case examples will be used to demonstrate the potential of curriculum-based written language contexts for enhancing collaboration with teachers in classroom-based and pull-out sessions as a key to enhancing curriculum relevance in language intervention. *Note: The author discloses her financial interest in the Test of Integrated Language and Literacy Skills (TILLS) and the companion Student Language Scale, which will be used for illustration in this session, but she has no financial interest in other tools to be discussed or used for illustration. SUMMARY The two-hour seminar will be organized into 3 parts. The first 30 min will provide an overview of a dimensional model of language/literacy skills based on the simple view of reading and its application for diagnosing and differentiating profiles of DLD and dyslexia in different combinations, with emphasis on what formal and informal assessments of written language samples can show. The second 30 min will provide opportunities for practice analyzing written language samples at several grade levels across the K-12 age span. The last 60 min will provide case examples demonstrating the principles involved in curriculum-based language assessment and intervention using a writing process approach to target individualized goals using curriculum-based based activities to provide the content and context for intervention.
Learning Objectives:
At the completion of this activity, participants should be able to:
Upon completion, participants will be able to discuss distinctions between purposes and procedures of formal and informal assessment of written language samples.
Upon completion, participants will be able to apply procedures for assessing written language samples at the macrostructure level (e.g., narrative and expository discourse structures) and microstructure levels (e.g., T-units, sentence types, word diversity, and word structures).
Upon completion, participants will be able to describe how they might plan a curriculum-based language intervention project in which they could focus on a given student’s individualized language objectives (oral and written).