language assessment for 4-year-olds

[Barbara Zurer Pearson]

Dear Susan,

You might consider the DELV (Diagnostic Evaluation of Language  
Variation) from The Psychological Corporation (now Harcourt  
Assessments).  It was developed by Harry Seymour, Tom Roeper, and Jill  
de Villiers under an NIH contract and is marketed as two tests: the  
DELV Screening Test and DELV Norm Referenced. It was originally  
developed to be fair for African American English speakers, but it  
works for all English speakers to "assess syntax and a range of other  
capacities," as you specify. : )

The norm-referenced version was normed once on 100% African American  
children for the NIH contract, but then Harcourt normed it again on a  
sample based on the general American population, the 2000 census.  The  
Norm Referenced version gives a scaled score for three domains (syntax,  
pragmatics, and semantics) and a standardized composite score  
encompassing all three.

It takes about 30-45 minutes depending on the age and abilities of the  
child.  It is standardized for ages 4 to 9.

I know a couple of groups using it for large studies and could put you  
in touch with them if you want.  Its website is
http://harcourtassessment.ca/HAIWEB/Cultures/en-us/dotCom/ 
DELVInfo.Net+Home.htm
(I got it by googling "Delv Harcourt")

Let me know if I can get you any more information about it.

Good luck,

Barbara

On Dec 4, 2006, at 1:25 PM, Gelman, Susan wrote:

>
> I am looking for a good (reliable, valid) instrument to measure  
> language skills in normally-developing, English-speaking 4-year-olds.   
> Ideally it could be administered in under 30-45 minutes.  I am already  
> planning to include the PPVT for vocabulary, but what would people  
> recommend to assess syntax and/or a range of capacities?  Suggestions  
> would be most welcome—thanks!
>  
> Susan A. Gelman
> Frederick G. L. Huetwell Professor of Psychology
> Associate Dean for Social Sciences
> College of Literature, Science, and the Arts
> 2115 LSA 
> University of Michigan
> Ann Arbor, MI   48109-1382
>  
> tel.:  (734) 647-2115
> fax :  (734) 764-2697
> e-mail:  gelman at umich.edu
>  
> http://sitemaker.umich.edu/gelman.lab/home
>