Russian Language Development Assessment as a Standardized Technique for Assessing Communicative Function in Children Aged 3–9 Years

The article describes the Russian Language Development Assessment, a standardized individual diagnostic tool for children aged from 3 to 9 that helps to assess the following components of a child’s communicative function: passive vocabulary, expressive vocabulary, knowledge of semantic constructs with logical, temporal and spatial relations, passive perception and active use of syntactic and morphological features of words in a sentence, active and passive phonological awareness, active and passive knowledge of syntactic structures and categories. The article provides descriptions of content and diagnostic procedures for all 7 subtests included in the assessment (Passive Vocabulary, Active Vocabulary, Linguistic Operators, Sentence structure, Word Structure, Phonology, Sentence Repetition). Basing on the data collected in the study that involved 86 first- graders of a Moscow school, the article analyzes the internal consistency and construct validity of each subtest of the technique. It concludes that the Russian Language Development Assessment technique can be of much use both in terms of diagnostic purposes and in supporting children with ASD taking into account the lack of standardized tools for language and speech development assessment in Russian and the importance of this measure in general.

1. Burlachuk L.F., Morozov S. M. Slovar’-spravochnik po psikhologicheskoi diagnostike [Handbook for the psychological diagnostics]. Krymskii S.B. (eds.). Kiev: Naukova dumka, 1989. 200 p.
2. Vinogradova K.N. Rech’ i kommunikatsiya pri rasstoistvakh autisticheskogo spectra [Language and communication in autism spectrum disorders]. Autizm i narusheniya razvitiya [Autism and Developmental Disorders], 2015, no. 2, vol., 47, pp. 17–28. (In Russ., abstr. in Engl.).
3. Lebedeva T.V. Novyi podkhod k issledovaniyu ovladeniya russkim yazykom det’mi doshkol’nogo vozrasta s normal’nym i narushennym razvitiem [Elektronnyi resurs] [A new approach to the study of Russian language acquisition in preschool children with normal and abnormal development]. Psikhologicheskaya nauka i obrazovanie PSYEDU.ru [Psychological Science and Education PSYEDU.ru], 2014, no. 3. Available at: http://psyedu.ru/journal/2014/3/Lebedeva. phtml (Accessed 07.08.2016). (In Russ., Abstr. in Engl.).
4. Lebedeva T.V. Psikhologicheskaya otsenka rechevykh i yazykovykh trudnostei u detei doshkol’nogo vozrasta [Psychological assessment of speech and language difficulties in preschool children]. Spetsial’noe obrazovanie [Special Education], 2016, no. 1, pp. 75–84. (In Russ., Abstr. in Engl.).
5. Manelis N.G., Khaustov A.V., Pantsyr’ S.N., Volgina N.N., Mamontova, N.A. Sravnitel’nyi analiz diagnosticheskikh metodik , ispol’zuemykh v obrazovatel’nykh organizatsiyakh g . Moskvy pri rabote s det’mi s rasstroistvami autisticheskogo spectra [Comparative analysis of diagnostic tools that are used in educational facilities of Moscow city during the work with  children  with  autism  spectrum  disorder].  Autizm i narusheniya razvitiya [Autism and Developmental Disorders], 2015, no. 2, vol. 47, pp. 8–16 (In Russ., Abstr. in Engl.).
6. Mezhdunarodnaya statisticheskaya klassifikatsiya boleznei i problem, svyazannykh so zdorov’em; 10-i peresmotr: v 3t. T. 1. Ch. 1. [International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems; Tenth Revision: in 3 vol. Vol. 1]. Trushevskaya A.G. (eds.). Zheneva: VOZ, 1995. 698 p. (In Russ.).
7. Babyonyshev M., Hart L.,  Reich  J.,  Kuznetsova J., Rissman R., Grigorenko E.L. Otsenka razvitiya russkogo yazyka [Assessment of the Development of Russian]. Unpublished assessment. 2007.
8. Carrol-Woolfolk E. Comprehensive Assessment of Spoken Language (CASL) [Kit]. Circle Piness, Minn: American Guidance Service, 1999.
9. Cattell R., Cattell A. Handbook for the individual or group culture fair intelligence test. Savoy, IL: Institute for Personality and Ability Testing, 1960.
10. Hammill D. D., Newcomer P. L. Test of language de- velopment: Intermediate [Kit]. Austin, TX: PRO-ED, 1982.
11. Kornilov S.A., Lebedeva T.V., Zhukova M.A., Prikhoda N.A., Korotaeva I.V., Koposov R.A., Hart L., Reich J., Grigorenko E.L. Language development in rural and urban Russian-speaking children with and without developmental language disorder. Learning and Individual Differences, 2016, no. 46, pp. 45–53.
12. Kornilov S.A., Rakhlin N., Grigorenko E.L. Morphology and developmental language disorders: new tools for russian. Psychology in Russia: State of the Art, 2012, pp. 371–387.
13. Rakhlin N., Kornilov S.A., Reich J., Babyonyshev M., Koposov R.A., Grigorenko E.L. The Relationship between Syntactic Development and  Theory  of Mind: Evidence  from  a  Small-Population  Study  of a Developmental Language Disorder. Journal of neurolinguistics, 2011, no. 24, vol. 4, pp. 476–496.
14. Semel E., Wiig E.H., Secord W.A. Clinical Evaluation of Language Fundamentals, Third Edition [Kit]. San Antonio: The Psychological Corporation, Harcourt Brace & Co, 1995.

PlumX

article metrics