Preschool vocabulary assessment

[Syllieann]

Is there an assessment online or some sort of inexpensive book that would give me an idea if my 3 yo is on track? Both receptive and expressive would be good, but expressive was his area of struggle. He graduated from therapy last Christmas, but I just want to make sure his momentum got him where we expected.

[Crimson Wife]

I really like Landmark School's Thinking About Language. It won't give you percentile scores or anything like that but I really think that any parent who has a language-delayed child should read it.

[PeterPan]

That's such a big thing to be concerned about, and vocabulary alone *won't* show you how his expressive and receptive language are doing.  My ds, for his first round of the CELF, had 99th percentile vocabulary and 25th percentile single sentence comprehension.  He couldn't comprehend basic commands, but he knew vocabulary way, way above his age/grade!  The language gap made him functionally hyper-lexic as he began to read.  We had him retested, because he wasn't reading, and at the end of 1st grade his vocabulary was at the 8th grade level.  Seriously.

 

So, depending on how thorough that Thinking about Language book is, I would consider fresh testing.  Or get the VBMAPP or something more thorough done.  Because, honestly, when you're having those kinds of concerns, it's time to trust your mother gut.  You're with him all the time, and you're seeing stuff happen that other people miss.  There *are* more detailed tools that can pinpoint what is going on.

 

You don't want to know how many people get INCORRECTLY told by their SLP that nothing is going on and then get another label. Trust your mother gut. 

Edited November 14, 2016 by OhElizabeth

[Crimson Wife]

 

You don't want to know how many people get INCORRECTLY told by their SLP that nothing is going on and then get another label. Trust your mother gut. 

 

My SN child got discharged by one SLP at age 3 because her single-word vocab was in the average range. At the time she was speaking mostly in 2 word phrases when she should've been using full sentences so I knew this SLP was dead wrong in claiming DD didn't need further therapy. We went to a different SLP, who basically called the first one incompetent (not in those words but that was the gist of it).

 

A good reference to track a young child's grammar development is this one: http://www.speech-language-therapy.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=33:brown&catid=2:uncategorised&Itemid=117

 

If your child has not mastered (>90% use when expected) everything up through Stage III by age 3 years, it's time to get a 2nd opinion about continuing speech therapy. The Stage IV stuff should be emerging (so >0% but <90%).

[geodob]

A simple way to assess vocabulary?   

Is to use photographs, where you point at a 'thing' and ask him to name them.

Also the opposite, where you name something, and ask him to point at it.

 

For this, you could use magazines with lots of photos? 

Or go to your local library, and use some books with lots of photos.

[Syllieann]

Thanks everyone. I ordered the Thinking About Language book. That looks like something that would be really helpful (and very interesting as well). I'm not worried at all about his comprehension, and it looks like he is doing well on Brown's stages, so we're going to hold off on further therapy or testing for now.