Chair: Lorraine Cabel
Chief Executive: Dr Patrick Geoghegan OBE
SPEECH AND LANGUAGE THERAPY SERVICE
FIRST LANGUAGE ASSESSMENT
The assessment in the booklet is designed to be used with children whose language
abilities are causing concern within the nursery, school or home situation. It can be
used both with children who may just have difficulties in learning English and with
children who it is felt may have more generalised difficulties with language acquisition.
It is important that the assessment is carried out by someone who is fluent in the child’s
home language, making sure the correct dialect is being used. The person performing
the assessment should be given guidance on assessment technique and recording of
responses by a Speech and Language Therapist.
Wherever possible, this assessment should be used with a child before they are
referred to the Speech and Language Therapy Service. This should help to ensure that
children who just have difficulties in learning English rather than those having more
generalised language difficulties are not referred to the service inappropriately. The
results of this assessment should be used in conjunction with assessment or profiling of
the child’s other abilities in order that language skills can be put into the context of the
child’s overall development rather than being seen in isolation.
If you have any queries, please contact your named Speech and Language Therapist.
SPEECH AND LANGUAGE THERAPY SERVICE
FIRST LANGUAGE ASSESSMENT
Please note:
In addition to the pictures in this booklet, you will need the following items for the comprehension
section:
Cup
Pencil
Book
Key
Small box
Important
When recording the child’s responses, please do this in English using the words/language that
the child actually used in their first language. If the child responded in English rather than their
first language, please note this using (E) next to the response (this is not necessary if the
assessment was carried out in English).
The assessment can be carried out over several sessions if necessary.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
Child’s name
Chosen/calling name
Male/female
Date of birth
Child’s first/main language
Dialect
Other language used in the home
(spoke and written)
Does the child attend mosque or community
school?
Child’s position in the family
How long has the child been exposed to
English?
Has the child had any extended holidays?
If yes, where?
Please give dates.
Have there been any concerns from home
regarding the child’s speech and language
development? If yes, please state the nature
of these concerns.
Has the child got any known hearing
difficulties? Date of last hearing test (if
known)
Are there any other concerns regarding the
child’s development e.g. medical conditions,
delayed developmental milestones, learning
difficulties? If so, please state the nature of
these concerns.
Has parental permission been given for this
assessment? Please state date given.
Name and position of assessor.
Language/dialect in which the assessment was carried out: …………………………………..
Date of assessment: ………………………………….
Signature of assessor: …………………………………………………..
BASIC VOCABULARY
Ask the child to point to the following:
(record √ or x. If x, please record what the child pointed to)
fingers ………………………..
hair …………………………….
mouth ………………………...
ear………………………………
knee…………………………..
shoulder………………………..
Can the child name the following parts of the body that you point to?
(record response)
eye……………………………
foot……………………………..
nose………………………….
thumb…………………………
tummy……………………….
elbow…………………………..
If the child has difficulties pointing to or interpreting the picture, you can use a doll or the
child’s/your own body.
BASIC VOCABULARY and CATEGORISATION
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
‘Tell me what these pictures are’ (record responses)
1._________________
2.____________________
3.____________________
4. _________________
5. ____________________
6.____________________
‘What are all these things? They are all (types of)
‘Can you think of any more animals?’ (record)
Basic vocabulary and categorisation (cont.)
1.
4.
2.
5.
3.
6.
‘Tell me what these pictures are’ (record responses)
1. ___________________
2. ___________________
3. _____________________
4. ___________________
5. ___________________
6.______________________
‘What are all these things? They are all (types of)
‘Can you think of any more clothes?’ (record)
VERBS
‘Tell me what is happening in the pictures’.
(Please record the child’s exact response under the picture, including any errors in e.g. word order)
‘Why is she carrying the dog?’
(record response)
_____________________
‘Why is he crying?’
_____________________
ADJECTIVES
Use each pair of pictures in turn, covering the other if necessary. If the child makes an error in
the first part of the task, model the correct response and then try the second part.
‘Which butterfly is big?’ ______
(record √ or x)
‘Which one is cold?’ __________
‘Which snake is short?’ __________
‘And this one is’ ______________
(record response)
‘And this one is’ _____________
‘And this one is’ ____________
‘Which one is happy?’ ___________
‘Which one is dry?’ __________
‘and this one is’ _______________
‘and this one is’ _____________
POSITION WORDS
Comprehension – record child’s response or √ /x if points to item.
What is on the roof? _____________________
What is under the table? __________________
What is in front of the house? ______________
What is in the tree? _________________
Expression – if the child points, encourage him to tell you where it is.
Where is the cat? ____________________
Where is the number 2? ________________
Where is the sun? _____________________
Where is the boy? _____________________
ODD ONE OUT
Present one line of pictures at a time. Ask the child to point to (or draw round) the object that is
‘different’ or ‘not the same’. See if the child can tell you why the chosen item is not the same.
Record responses under the pictures. Please note how much help the child needed for this task.
Why?
Why?
Why?
Why?
THINGS THAT GO TOGETHER
Ask the child to join up the objects that go together. Prompt if necessary, but please note the
amount of help that the child needed for this task. Can the child tell you why the items they have
linked go together? Please record responses.
Why do they go together?
SHORT TERM MEMORY
Please note all child’s responses. If the child gets both items with the same number of digits
incorrect, stop this part of this assessment.
‘I’m going to say some numbers. I want you to say them (repeat them) when I’ve finished’
Practice item:
2, 5
response:
_______________
a)
1, 4 _____________
e) 1, 4, 3, 2 _______________
b)
2, 6 _____________
f)
c)
3, 1, 4 ____________
g) 4, 1, 6, 2, 9 _____________
d)
8, 2, 5 ____________
h) 3, 7, 2, 6, 1 _____________
8, 2, 6, 3 _______________
VERBAL COMPREHENSION
For this section, you will need the objects stated at the beginning of the assessment.
In this section, if you need to repeat the instruction, repeat the whole thing again rather than just
the part that the child did not respond to the first time. Please note if a repeat was needed as
well as the action that the child carried out if the response was incorrect.
Remember to praise the child after each task.
1. Object function
‘Look at the things on the table. I’m going to ask you to give me one of them. Listen carefully’.
Put the item that the child gives you back on the table with the others each time.
‘Give me the one I can write with’
√
x
□
□
□
□
□
□
□
□
‘What is it?’ ___________________________
‘Give me the one I can drink from’
‘What is it?’ ___________________________
‘Give me the one I can read’
‘What is it?’ ___________________________
‘Give me the one I can open the door with’
‘What is it?’
2. Following verbal instructions
In this section, if the child makes and error, please note down what he did and, if appropriate,
the order in which the parts of the instruction were carried out.
‘Now I’m going to ask you to do something else. Look at all the things in front of you. Listen
carefully. Are you ready?’
√
x
a) ‘Put the key in the cup’ ________________________________
□
□
b) ‘Put the pencil on the book’ ____________________________
□
□
c) ‘Put the box under your chair’ ___________________________
□
□
Recover the items before you start the next section and spread them out on the table.
After each instruction, return the items back to the table before giving the next one.
□
□
1st part ______________________________________
□
□
2nd part ______________________________________
□
□
1st part ______________________________________
□
□
2nd part ______________________________________
□
□
d) ‘Put the pencil and the key in the box’
e) ‘Put the key in the cup and put the box on the floor’
e) ‘Put the book on your knee and put the pencil under the box’
f) ‘Put the key in the box, put the book on the floor and put the cup on the book’
1st part ______________________________________
□
□
2nd part ______________________________________
□
□
3rd part ______________________________________
□
□
EXPRESSIVE LANGUAGE
Narrative
Choose a story without words e.g. Oxford Reading Tree. Try to use the same story for all
children.
‘Look at the pictures, they tell a story. Can you tell me what is happening?’ You can prompt by
asking ‘What’s happening here?’ for each page if necessary.
Please make comments on the following:
How much prompting did the child require?
Did the child use well formed, grammatically correct sentences? Please give any examples of
sentences heard in the way the child said them.
Did the child see the story as a whole, or did he just talk about the separate pictures?
Did the child have any difficulties with the vocabulary? (i.e. finding the right words) Please give
any examples.
Did the child provide only basic information about the pictures or was he able to elaborate?
Was the child’s speech fluent, or did he stop and start, hesitate or get muddled?
Was the child able to retell the story once he had gone through the book page by page?
Relating personal experience
‘Tell me what you did….’
e.g. in class this morning; before you came to school; over the weekend etc.
Please comment on the child’s ability to express himself as for the narrative section. Plus:
Is the child able to use indicators of past and future tense?
Is the child able to indicate gender correctly?
Can the child join phrases together using structures such as ‘and’, ‘then’, ‘because’ or their
equivalents in the language being tested.
An example of a sentence where all three of the above items are used correctly would be:
‘I played with my sister, then we went to the shops and she let me share her sweets’.
Finally, please comment on how the child coped with the assessment e.g. was he nervous,
confident, fidgety/lacking attention or did he concentrate well?