Pearson - Clinical and Talent Assessment - Australia and New Zealand

NOW AVAILABLE!

Adapted for Australia and New Zealand, PLS-5 offers you a comprehensive developmental language assessment with items that range from pre-verbal, interaction-based skills to emerging language to early literacy! This interactive, play-based assessment provides you with comprehensive, reliable, and trusted information about language skills for children from birth up to 7 years 11 months.

(U.S. kit is pictured)

Content & Administration

• Administer PLS-5 to test a full range of language skills across the developmental language spectrum
• Link the Home Communication Questionnaire items directly to test tasks to serve as a baseline for testing. This frees testing time for observing natural interactions between parents and children from Birth–2:0.
• Address the needs of children up to 8 years of age who have severe, persistent deficits such as autism or severe developmental delays

Use PLS-5 to:

• Target interaction, attention, vocal/gestural behaviours, and different levels of play for children from Birth to 2:11
• Assess preschoolers with new items for letter naming and book handling, and updated school readiness skills
• Target language skills that tap Theory of Mind and emergent literacy skills for 6- and 7-year-olds
• Assess children at age 7 with new language tasks such as assessing use of irregular plurals and synonyms, constructing sentences using two or three target words in the sentence, and answering questions about a story

PLS-5 Items: Changes from PLS-4 during U.S. Development

Features & Benefits

• NEW! Track progress using Growth Scores to monitor a child’s skills from Birth through to 7:11
• Address a wider variety of early play behaviours
• Better elicit target responses due to test item modifications that are based on examiner feedback
• Minimise transitions between the play and picture pointing tasks now that test items with manipulatives are grouped to streamline administration
• Engage children with the new Picture Manual featuring large, colourful illustrations
• Target multiple phonemes within words using the brief Articulation Screener, which now includes picture stimuli
• Many of the manipulatives are plastic (including Mr. Bear!) so they can be wiped clean after each administration

Psychometric Information

• 1,400 children participated in the standardisation normative sample, collected in more than 45 states in the United States
• Norms are reported for 3-month intervals for children Birth to 11 months and 6-month intervals for ages 12 months through to 7 years, 11 months
• Clinical studies include a developmental delay study and three language disorder studies (children with receptive language disorder, expressive language disorder, and both receptive and expressive disorder)
• Case studies include children identified as high risk (environmental risk) and children identified with autism
• Multiple reviews for bias were conducted throughout the test development. Nationally recognised U.S. experts in assessment and bias issues conducted a thorough review of test items and art. An additional sample of African American and Hispanic children were tested to conduct the statistical analysis of bias.
• Split half reliabilities range from .80 to .97. Sensitivity for the Total Language score is .83; and specificity is .80.

Use in Australia and New Zealand

The Australian and New Zealand office of Pearson Clinical Assessment has been involved in the development and pilot phases of the WASI-II since 2008. As a result of this involvement the language and cultural differences of Australia and New Zealand have, where possible, been taken into consideration in the WASI-II. The WASI-II standardisation was undertaken in the U.S.

WASI-II and WAIS-IV Australian and New Zealand Language Adapted Edition
The WAIS-IV Australian and New Zealand Language Adapted Edition and the WASI-II both use U.S. norms.  WASI-II Substitution can therefore be undertaken with the WAIS-IV in accordance with the procedures set out in the WASI-II Administration and Scoring Manual and the Technical Report provided below.

WASI-II Technical Report #1: Using the WASI-II with the WISC®-IV

WASI-II and WISC-IV Australian Standardisation Edition
The WISC-IV Australian Standardisation Edition (WISC-IV Australian) uses Australian norms while the WASI-II uses U.S. norms. Supplementary analysis suggested that the limited use of U.S. WASI-II norms within the WISC-IV Australian is likely to have a negligible impact on test scores, please refer to the Technical Note below for full details. WASI-II Substitution can therefore be undertaken with the WISC-IV Australian in accordance with the procedures set out in the WASI-II Administration and Scoring Manual and the Technical Report provided below.

WASI-II Technical Note: Using WASI-II with WAIS®-IV Australian
WASI-II Technical Report #2: Using the WASI-II with the WAIS®-IV

Materials

In addition to the Examiner's Manual, Administration Scoring Manual, Picture Manual, Record Forms, and Home Communication Questionnaire, the following manipulatives are needed for administration: