The LEAD-K Michigan Advisory Committee has recommended eleven assessments for assessing language development and the stages toward English literacy for DHH children ages 0-5. The collection of recommended assessments provides multiple perspectives when looking at language and allows for teams to select which measures are most appropriate for individual children.
It is important when assessing language that teams pair tools with observations and robust language and narrative samples. For children who are DHH, additional language supports may be needed despite an overall average language score on a norm-referenced measure. Individual subtests that measure language the child learns incidentally may score below average revealing possible missing foundational information that is required for further literacy development. Children who are DHH may continue to need language support even if their scores fall in the low average range.
It is national best practice to closely monitor the language progress and access of a child who is DHH: Optimizing Outcomes for Students who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing [PDF]. Therefore, conducting language testing at six-month intervals is recommended.
The recommended assessments are listed below.
- American Sign Language Expressive Skills Test (ASL-EST)
- American Sign Language Receptive Skills Test (ASL-RST)
- Arizona Articulation and Phonology Scale
- Clinical Evaluation of Language Fundamentals - Preschool (CELF-P3)
- Communication Matrix
- Cottage Acquisition Scales for Listening, Language & Speech (CASLLS)
- Developmental Assessment of Young Children (DAYC-2)
- MacArthur-Bates Communicative Development Inventories (MB-CDI & ASL-CDI)
- Receptive-Expressive Emergent Language Test (REEL-4)
- Rossetti Infant-Toddler Language Scale
- Visual Communication and Sign Language Checklist (VCSL)