PPVT as a measure of language impairment?

[Shelley Gray]

Dear Maria;

Our article in this month's Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in
schools (The Diagnostic Accuracy of Four Vocabulary Tests Administered to
Preschool-Age Children; Gray, Plante, Vance, and Henrichsen)addresses this
question as it pertains to preschoolers with specific language impairment.
We examined the utility of four vocabulary tests, two receptive (including
the PPVT-III) and two receptive for identifying preschoolers with SLI.

The short response to your question is that although vocabulary tests are
often administered for screening or diagnostic purposes or to describe
language function, the empirical evidence for these uses is lacking. In our
study no vocabulary test was a strong predictor or identifier of SLI
status, and even though the children with SLI *as a group* scored lower
than the matched group with NL, their individual scores usually fell within
what would typically be considered the 'normal range.' Administration of a
second vocabulary test actually decreased rather than increased the
classification accuracy. We also found considerable variation in test
scores for the same child from test to test.
At 08:17 PM 4/23/99 -0400, you wrote:
>	I was wondering if anyone has information as to the sensitivity of
>the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (or any similar receptive vocabulary
>test) in detecting language impairments in children?  It is often included
>in a battery of tests administered to children, and so my questions are:
>1. how often does it expose a problem, when used with language-impaired
>children ?
>2.What do the scores look like, i.e. are they just at the low
>end of the normal range (85-115) or are they below normal and by how much?
>3.Also, how do children with expressive language deficits score on it:
>"healthy" normal or "low end of normal" range?
>	Any insights and references would be appreciated. Thanks.
>
>Maria Mody, Ph.D.
>Asst. Professor
>Albert Einstein College of Medicine
>
>
>
>
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Shelley Gray, Ph.D., CCC-SLP
National Center for Neurogenic Communication Disorders	(520)621-1870
Scottish Rite-The University of Arizona Child Language Center (520)620-0420
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