PLS-5

Preschool Language Scales -Fifth Edition (PLS-5)

Created By: Josephine Bartolome & Miranda O'Hayer

GENERAL INFORMATION

Authors:

Irla Lee Zimmerman, PhD

Violette G. Steiner, B.S

Roberta Evatt Pond, M.A

Date Published:

English Version - 2011

Spanish Version - 2012

Publisher:

Pearson

PURPOSE

To identify children (ages birth to 7:11) who have a language delay or disorder.

• Is the delay/disorder receptive, expressive or both?

• Is the child eligible for early intervention or speech and language services?

TEST BIAS

WHAT'S INCLUDED...

Keep In Mind When Testing...

CULTURAL

DIALECTICAL

LINGUISTIC

SOCIOECONOMIC STATUS (SES)

Interaction with others

• May be customary for a child not to speak until spoken to

• Non-responsiveness may be due to cultural traditions; may result in false identification of LD

• Eye contact may affect performance in the EC subtest (during story retelling or formulating sentences)

Morphology is an area of difficulty for children with limited English proficiency (LEP) (Paradis, 2005)

• AC Subtest - children asked to make grammatical judgments and provide the correct answers

• Example: Children are presented with a grammatically incorrect sentence such as “Her can eat cookies” --> reflects lack of exposure to English pronouns, not language disorder.

Dialectic issues can result from the test being administered in Standard American English (SAE)

• Example: Speakers of dialects other than SAE (e.g. African American English (AAE), Patois) face difficulty when asked to complete tasks such as sentence repetition, story retelling, and sentence formulating:

• SAE - “When he came home from school, Joey ate a snack.”

• Children from families with higher SES will likely score higher on standardized tests

• Children with lower SES may be falsely identified as having LD due to:

• Less exposure to labeling
• Less exposure to vocabulary and less familiarity with books
• Trouble understanding analogies
• Difficulty with story retelling tasks and emergent literacy skills

Examiner's Manual

Administration Scoring Manual

Record Forms

Home Communication Questionnaire

Manipulatives

Source: Test Review: PLS-5 English LEADERSproject (2013).

Retrieved from http://www.leadersproject.org/2013/11/25/test-review-pls-5-english/

PROS & CONS

RELIABILITY & VALIDITY

ADMINISTRATION GUIDELINES

Pointing or verbal response to pictures and objects.

REFERENCES

WHAT DOES THE PLS-5 ASSESS?

Types of Scores Available

Auditory Comprehension (Receptive)

Expressive Communication

Auditory Comprehension (AC)

Expressive Communication (EC)

Total Communication (TC)

EXPRESSIVE COMMUNICATION

AUDITORY COMPREHENSION

• Gesture
• Vocal Development
• Social Communication
• Semantics
• Language Structure
• Integrative Thinking Skills (thinking using language)
• Emergent Literacy Skills

• Attention
• Play
• Gesture
• Semantics
• Language Structure
• Integrative Thinking Skills (thinking using language)
• Emergent Literacy Skills

SCORING

SAMPLE DEMONSTRATION

BASAL & CEILING

GUIDELINES

EXPRESSIVE COMMUNICATION

CLD POPULATION

Basal: 3 consecutive correct responses

Ceiling: 6 consecutive errors

• Record a response for each part of the item (+) = Correct; (-) = Incorrect

• For each item, add the number correct and compare to pass criteria

• Circle the appropriate score: (1 or 0)

• For AC1-19, EC1-25, and EC27 circle the methods of assessment used
• CR – Caregiver Report
• O – Observation
• E – Elicitation

BIRTH-2:11

Target interaction, attention, vocal/gestural behaviors, and different levels of play

SAMPLE DEMONSTRATION

BASAL GUIDELINES

PRESCHOOLERS

• Spanish version available

• Includes specific instructions to modify test procedures when a child has a known dialectical difference or speaks another language

Assess for letter naming, book handling, and school readiness skills

7 YEAR OLDS

Assess for new language tasks; irregular plurals and synonyms, constructing sentences using two or three target words, and answering questions about a story

6-7 YEAR OLDS

Target Theory of Mind and emergent literacy skills

Castilleja, N. (2007), Preschool Language Scales-5: Assessing Language from 0-7. Pearson Education. Retrieved from http://www.speechandlanguage.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/pls-5-webinar_4-6-11_handout.pdf

Pearson. (n.d.). Preschool Language Scales, Fifth Edition. Retrieved from http://www.pearsonclinical.com/language/products/100000233/preschoollanguage-scales-fifth-edition-pls-5.html

Smith, K. (2014). PLS-5 - A Validity Study - ASHA Community. Retrieved from http://community.asha.org/blogs/Kristin -smith/2014/10/28/pls-5

Test Review: PLS-5 English LEADERSproject (2013). Retrieved from http://www.leadersproject.org/2013/11/25/test-review-pls-5-english/

USE THE PLS-5 TO...