Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Lab 3
Lab 3
Rachel Dodds
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Introduction
The purposes of this assessment are to determine the language development of Child A
and provide recommendations based on assessment scores for further evaluation. Child A is a 26
month-old female. The child was assessed using the MacArthur Communicative Development
Inventory: Words & Sentences (CDI)which assess a childs vocabulary, sentence length, and
use of words and endings as compared to other children of the same age and gender.
Data Summary
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Interpretation
The data appearing in Tables 1 and 2 indicate Child As development in the language
domain, compared to children of the same age and gender that took the same assessment. Table 1
is a summary of vocabulary words produced, word form usage, and average sentence length.
Percentiles were used in this chart to specify that Child As results were equal to or better than a
certain percentage of childrenfemales, aged 26 monthswho have taken this assessment. The
assessment score by evaluating how it compares to the scores of a childs peers . In terms of
vocabulary, Child A produced 313 of 680 words possible in the Vocabulary Checklist portion
of the assessment; these results determined that Child As score was at the 30th percentile
meaning that Child A performed the same as or better than 30 percent of children of the same
age. For the word form portion of the assessment, Child A used 6 of the 25 word forms listed. In
terms of word form, Child As score was at the 40th percentileagain, meaning that Child A
scored equal to or better than 40 percent of children in this section of the assessment. The
average sentence lengthfound by counting words in a given sentencefor Child A was 3.67
words long. This was calculated by finding the mean of the 5 word, 3 word, and 3 word
sentences. This average sentence length was at the 40th percentile for girls the same age as Child
A.
Though some may find percentile scores that are lower than the 50th percentile to mean
that there is a developmental delay, this is not the case for Child A. The normative sampleor
the children who were assessed to compile a standardized scoring systemshows that there are
ranges of scores that indicate typical development. In order to determine this range, assessment
creators found the average score of all results for each section of the exam (except for the parts
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which only provide three possible answers to a question) and used this to determine a value
called standard deviation (SD)which is a quantity that determines how scores vary and are
dispersed. Generally, the greatest number of scores are found one standard deviation above and
below the mean scorethis range area is colored green in Figure 1. Each of the childs scores in
within one standard deviation of the mean, 382.5 wordsSD equals 180.7 words, so the range of
typical development for vocabulary in 26-month old children is about 201.8 words through 563.2
words. This is also true of Child As score for word forms, which was 6the SD shows the
typical range of development for the childs age to be between 1.5 forms and 15.1 forms, with a
mean of 8.3 forms. Finally, Child As score of 3.67 words for mean sentence length also falls in
the typical range for children the childs agewhich is between 2.1 words and 9.3 words, with
the mean being 5.7 words in length. Since Child As scores are all within one standard deviation
of the mean in these parts of the assessment, it is safe to say that Child A is developing normally
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Table 2 is a summary of the childs usage of word types and forms compared to other
children who are the same age. This table uses percentages because the assessment investigates
more broad aspects of the language domain. There were solely two interpretations of this section:
the child uses a skill or the child does not use or attempt to use a skill. The fact that there are
these two interpretations does not provide deeper information regarding how a child uses a skill
or to what extent the child has mastered the skilltherefore, percentiles cannot be used. These
are also disadvantages to using percentages when reporting assessment results. The assessment
indicates that Child A uses the past tense in language production, which 82 percent of 26-month
old girls also use. In regards to the use of future tense in language production, it was determined
that Child A uses this aspect of languagewhich 85 percent of 26 month-old girls also do. 78
percent of typical children the same age and gender as Child A are able to produce plural
nounswhich are formed by adding an -s to the end of a nounincluding Child A. The child
additionally showed use of past tenseformed by taking a verb and adding -ed to end end of a
verblanguage production that 48 percent of 26-month old girls produce, as well. The only skill
that Child A did not display use of was possessivesformed by adding -ing to the end a verb.
64 percent of females of the same age use possessives. Though, many children develop this skill
Recommendation
This assessment investigated whether or not Child As language development skills were
lower than was is considered typical for children of the same age and gender. Based on the
results in Table 1 and 2 and my interpretation of the assessment scores, I find that these scores do
not warrant concern about Child As development. Child A appears to be at an age and gender-
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Reflection
By doing this lab, I learned how to interpret standardized assessment scores more deeply.
It is essential that educators understand the variance of scores that result from assessments. I feel
that this lab helped me to become more familiar with how to complete an investigation related to
range regardless. Most likely, I will be a part of a team of educators and experts working to
determine if a certain child should be considered for further evaluation in the future, so this was
very helpful to practice writing reports to parents and colleagues summarizing my findings. Im
very glad that I was able to have this sort of experience so that I am more prepared for what I
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References
Brunan, L. (2017, January 13). [NWEA Normal, Bell-shaped Curve]. Retrieved from
https://www.nwea.org/blog/2017/please-dont-misunderstand-me-a-follow-up-to-our-first-
best-of-fusion-webinar/
Mindes, G. (2015). Assessing young children (5th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson.
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Appendix A