Student'S Guide To The Celf - 4

STUDENT'S GUIDE TO THE CELF -‐ 4

An introduction to the nearly deceased
assessment

by JustAnotherSpeechie

Disclaimer: This information is not intended to replace the CELF-4 manual, but is hopefully
accurate enough to give you a head's start. Please refer to the CELF-4 manual if any
discrepancies exist.
JustAnotherSpeechie's Guide to the CELF-4 Page 1 of 19

INTRODUCTION
Why was this guide written?

The CELF-4 would be unofficially one of the most used language assessments for
school aged children. It is therefore essential to be able to administer and
interpret the results efficiently. This can easily happen if you live with the CELF-4
manual, but unfortunately, this does not always happen. Sometimes, speech
pathologists want a quick guide.
Who is this guide intended for?

This guide is intended for speech pathology students who are wanting to prepare
for the assessment, but do not have adequate access to the manual. It might also
appeal to speech pathologists who need a quick refresh of the guidelines
associated with the assessment.
This manual is not intended to replace the manual, but to serve as "essential" side
notes.

BEFORE THE SESSION
What do I need to do before the session?

Setting up before the session is paramount. Sometimes one tiny error or moment
of forgetfulness can put you off for the whole session. Here are some points to
consider.
• Find out as much as possible about the student being assessed, including
reason for referral
• Work out the chronological age before the session and complete the
details at the top of the form. This ensures that the appropriate subtests
are completed
• Mark the section for Recalling Sentences administration. Some speechies

might just say, "Let's play a copying game", however this is not what you
want to do in front of your supervisor.
• Extra equipment might include: voice recorder, motivational

games/toys, stop watch
What should I tell the student about the assessment?

One of the most important things to outline for the student is to outline what to
expect. Some points worth mentioning include:
• Routine of work-play-work-play. Provide some choice with regards to

the "play" so the student has some sort of control in this session.
• How long the session will go for, or how many activities will be
completed.
• Sometimes I will give the student a choice of a pointing or talking activity

(receptive or expressive language subtest)
• To decrease anxiety, tell them upfront that they are not expected to
answer every question correctly, but they are expected to provide their
best answer.
• Let them know that for some questions you are allowed to repeat back,
others you are not
• That for many questions you are unable to tell them the answer.
Ask the student if they have any questions before the assessment starts.
What about the parents?

I always encourage parent to watch the assessment session with the child's
permission. In some cases, the parents might think the student will perform
better in their absence.

If the parents are in the room:
• The parent may want to sit next to the student or behind the student.
Ensure that the parent can see the stimulus questions.
• Tell the parents that they too have a job in the assessment session. That
they are expected to provide emotional support for the student. They are
to watch the answers closely, so they can give feedback as to whether
their child responded in a way they expected. This part is essential in the
build up to delivering the results, and can prevent any disagreements.
• Ask parents to refrain from providing the answer, and that you aren't
allowed to give the answer either.
• It might be worth asking parents if they know what the assessment is

looking at. Some parents come into the session without adequate
information after being advised by teachers to attend.
• How their children generally present today that might affect the
assessment results. Observations to note include energy levels, general
health and any behavioral observations (e.g., anxiety about the
assessment).

ADMINISTRATION

Which subtests should I administer?
In an ideal word, you would only test using the subtests that correlate to the
presenting problem, and only screen for areas in which the students displays high
risk-factors of delay. This minimizes the amount of assessment that the child
needs to sit through, whilst gaining information about their language skills.
In the real world, the subtests that are administered should be guided by:
• The presenting problem: If a student is referred, then there is generally

difficulties with Receptive and/or expressive language. Therefore at bare
minimum, it is suggested that the RLI and ELI subtests are administered.
• If time is limited, it is strongly recommended that you not give into the
temptation of only administering the subtests for the CLI. If you have
such limited time, you should administer a different screening
assessment.
• Age: Each subtest has a recommended age-range. Administer those

expected for the age group first, then administer other assessments.
• Time constraints: Time constraints may not allow you to administer

other sub-tests (e.g., Working Memory).
In this guide, the CELF-4 assessment suggests the following subtests be

administered to determine the Receptive Language Index:
• Concepts & Following Directions (C&FD)
• Word Classes - Receptive (WC-R)
• Sentence Structure (SS)
The following three subtests will be outlined for the Expressive Language Index:
The order of administration does not matter. For children who are more
introverted, or need to warm up, a receptive language subtest may be an easy
way to start the assessment.

RECEPTIVE LANGUAGE


In order to gain the suggested minimum score for the Receptive Language Index,
three subtests will need to be administered:
• Concepts & Following Directions (C&FD)
• Word Classes - Receptive (WC-R)
• Sentence Structure (SS)
For students who have difficulty in answering questions from stories and receive
a score within the normal range for the Sentence Structure subtest, the
Understanding Spoken Paragraphs subtest may be worth administering.
What are the limitations of the Receptive Language Index?

In any assessment, there will be limitations and the CELF-4 is no exception.
Given that our results always need to be linked back to the presenting problem,
the following should be noted when understanding the RLI:
• This assessment is ideally taken place in a quiet, 1:1 environment.

Therefore, the score is likely to represent the best possible linguistic skills.
This is very unlikely to represent the classroom. Therefore, observations
may include that the child is able to follow instructions, only when there
are minimal distractions (audible and visual).
• As indicated previously, there is no assessment for listening and

understanding narratives of greater than one-sentence.
• The RLI taken without the ELI does not test for auditory memory without
visual support. The Working Memory subtests need to be administered
to screen for this skill.
We will now outline the subtests involved in the Receptive Language Index.

CONCEPTS & FOLLOWING DIRECTIONS
What does this subtest test?

This subtest tests for the ability for the student to follow basic concepts (e.g., top,
bottom) and follow increasingly long instructions with visual support.
Why is this important to test?

The subtest can be used to provide evidence as to whether a child who presents
with difficulty in following class instructions has a language based delay or not. If
so, whether this may be due to difficulty understanding concepts, multi-step
instructions or if visual supports are required.
The results from this assessment can identify specific concepts that the student
needs extra attention.
What do I need to do?

In this subtest, you need to show the students pictures from Stimulus Book 1 and
read the instructions from the opposite page. Watch the student's response and
note:
• Which pictures the student pointed to
• The order in which the student pointed
Score this subtest as you go, circling one (1) for correct and zero (0) for incorrect.
Once you past question __, look for seven (7) consecutive incorrect responses (O)
before discontinuing the test.
What do I need to look out for?
• Waiting for "Go"
Ensure your student understands that they need to wait for "Go" before
responding to the question. If they are unable to wait despite repeated
teaching attempts, then administer the subtest anyway to gain
information. Whilst each violation of not waiting for "Go" is marked as
incorrect, it will be worth noting whether the student is able to answer
the question correctly or not. Note in the report these behavioural
observations.
• Asking for repeats
Note whether the student is asking for a repeat due to environmental

factors (e.g., a loud noise that suddenly occurred), a lack of attention, or
not being able to remember the instruction. If the first two, then come
back to the question at the end of the assessment. If the latter reason,
remind the student you are unable to repeat the question, and that they
can try again in the next question. For those displaying signs of anxiety,

reflect on the fact that the questions are getting harder and it's okay if
they need to guess.
• Taking a long time to answer
Sometimes a student will sit there for 10-15 seconds before answering a
question. It makes for a very long assessment! I am generally upfront
with the student: I ask them if they need time to think, of which I
reassure them that I will wait for as long as it takes (sigh!), or if they don't
know they can either tell me or guess.
• Missing their answer
This is tricky to start with: You read them a nice long instruction and the
student answers so quickly you can miss their response! In order to
minimise this issue, I like to look up as I am reading the last few words.
There is also a separate stimulus card that allows you to sit next the
student so you can see them pointing. I personally sit at the corner of the
table with the student to the left of me (so I can write on the right side).
If this happens, try going back to the question at the end of the
assessment, tell the student that you missed an answer.
Scoring the subtest

Scoring the subtest is quantitative and relatively straight-forward.
• Check that you have indicated a 1 or 0 for every answer
• Draw a line underneath the seventh consecutive incorrect answer
• Add up all the answers up to this line
• Convert the score into a standardised score using the tables at the back
of the manual
Which qualitative results should I report?

• Significant observations in behaviour during the subtest that either
supports classroom observations or partially account for the results.
These include:
o Attention skills (e.g., could they last through the whole subtest)
o Impulse control skills (e.g., waiting for "Go")
o Metacognitive skills (e.g., being able to identify if they knew an

answer or not, or whether the subtest was easy)
• Consistency of results (e.g., always answering 2-step instructions

correctly)

• Concepts that the student followed or had difficulty in following. These
include top/bottom, ordinal numbers (e.g., first, second, third), temporal
concepts (e.g., before, same time).
• Maximum number of key words that the student could follow

consistently (e.g., 2-key words: The blue shoe)
• Maximum number of steps (e.g., 3-steps: Point the shoe, the ball and the
house)
The most important information in the assessment is how it links back to the
presenting problem. For example,
"Annie scored an 8 in this subtest which indicates that her skills in understanding
a range of concepts and following instructions with visual support is within the
average range. Annie understood the following concepts:
Annie displayed difficulty answering questions relating to the following concepts:
Annie answered questions of up to 6-key words and/or 3-steps correctly.

However, Annie answers were inconsistent. At times, Annie would answer longer
and more complex questions correctly, but answer more simple questions
incorrectly. Annie required 2-3 prompts to come back and attend the task. This
observation is consistent with teacher reports that she "sometimes" follows
classroom instructions."

WORD CLASSES -‐ RECEPTIVE
What does this subtest test?

The Word Classes - Receptive subtest tests for a student's ability to make a
connection between two words/pictures.
Why is this important to test?

This subtest can help identify whether a lack of progress in learning is partially
explained by a restricted vocabulary. At times, a difficulty in completing class
activities is also due to vocabulary limitations.
This subtest looks at a student's ability to make connections between words. The
stronger the connections, the more easily it is to access and retrieve that word.
Additionally, as we learn new words we relate them to our existing vocabulary.
Therefore the stronger the existing vocabulary, the more connections we can
make and the easier it is to learn the new word.
Vocabulary is also one of the 5 essential foundations in literacy skills. Therefore

children who have a weak vocabulary risk having literacy delays.

Show the student the relevant pages from Stimulus Book 1. Read the instructions
on the reverse side and point to the pictures as you name them. The student can
either point to the two pictures that go together or they can say them out aloud.
Mark the pictures that the student points to on the score sheet. Circle one (1) or
zero (0) for correct and incorrect responses respectively.
You can also ask the student to explain the answer (e.g., How do ___ and ___ go
together?).
If the student obtains five (5) consecutive answers incorrect in the receptive
language score, discontinue the assessment.

Vocabulary! The CELF-4 is slowly being replaced by the CELF-5, and therefore
we need to put up with the current lot of vocabulary. Some words that students
have trouble with include chalk and washing line.
What qualitative results should I report?

Impulsiveness
Sometimes students will not look at all the answers before they answer.
Therefore you may see a cluster of answers where the pairs are the same. If you
observe this during the assessment, have a look at their eyes and you can
generally get a good indications as to whether they are scanning the whole page.

As this is a vocabulary assessment, it might be useful to prompt them to look at
the whole page.
Connecting words in their own ways
When students provide odd-ball answers, there are sometimes correct reasons as
to why the answer is correct (in their mind!). For example, the dog and frog go
together because they both end in "og". The answer isn't incorrect, it just isn't the
answer that is the most obvious semantic answer. This still indicates a weakness
in their ability to make connections between words. In such instances, their
answer is still incorrect and marked zero (0).
Sometimes it is also worth providing a few specific examples of words that the
student was able to answer correctly.

SENTENCE STRUCTURE
What is being tested?

This subtest asks the student to listen to a sentence and match the sentence to a
picture. The sentences vary in concepts and sentence structures.
Why is this important?

This subtest looks at the student's ability to understand a variety of sentence
structures. This is especially important if it is reported that students have difficulty
comprehending stories.
Additionally, when teachers explain a concept, he/she may explain using

different sentence structures. It is useful to pair up sentence structures that the
student does understand with sentence structures they do not.

Show the student the pictures from Stimulus Book 2 and read the instructions on
the reverse side. Watch where the student points and circle their response. Score
one (1) for a correct answer and zero (0) for an incorrect answer.
Administer all the items, no matter how many questions are incorrect.

Always answering (C)
We might joke about this at university, but school aged children also do the same!
The student might not be scanning for all the pictures, and similarly to Word
Classes - Receptive subtest, be answering impulsively.
Requesting repetition
Repeats are permitted in this subtest. If consistent, then note in qualitative

observations.
What can I qualitatively report?

The CELF-4 manual includes categories for the stimulus questions. It might be
worth noting the categories that were correctly answered, and those that require
specific intervention.

Expressive language Index (ELI)


To obtain an ELI for 5-7 years, the following subtests need to be completed:
• Word Structure
• Recalling Sentences
• Formulating Sentences
What are the limitations to the ELI?

Formulating Sentences subtest
For the really young students (e.g., 5;0-5;6), the Formulating Sentences subtest
can be quite tricky. Students do not need to score all that well in order to obtain a
score that is within the average range. Consequently, there is little sensitivity at
the lower end of the scale.
Narrative development
The CELF-4 limits expressive language to the sentence level. There is no room for
children to further show their skills in narrative development, which is essential
for story telling.

WORD STRUCTURE

The student's grammatical skills are tested via sentence completion.
Why is it important?

This is important to identify if specific grammatical skills are limiting expressive
language skills, and to identify areas that need attention.

Show the student pictures from the Stimulus Book 1 and read the instructions on
the opposite page (some pointing is required also). Mark a one (1) for correct and
zero (0) for incorrect.
What do I need to look for?

There are sometimes only one example is provided to ensure the student uses
that particular grammatical structure (e.g., lack of repetition).
Sometimes the student doesn't understand that they need to complete the
stimulus question in the same way you completed the model.
What can I qualitatively report?

List the grammatical structures that were consistently answered correctly, those
that were inconsistently answered, and those areas that need work.

RECALLING SENTENCES
What does this test?

This tests for the student's ability to recall information without visual guidance. It
provides a good idea about the vocabulary that is used, the sentence structures
and grammatical structures used by the student.
Why is this subtest important?

The Recalling Sentences subtest can be useful to identify the length of sentences
that a student can recall without visual support. This would support observations
of difficulty following auditory instructions.
As part of the expressive language index, the Recalling Sentences subtest can
provide indicators of a student's sentence structure, grammar skills and
vocabulary. This is due to the observation that we do not generally repeat what
we do not have already in our language system. For example, if I were to say,
"There's a dog and a cat!" to a 2 year old, they might only repeat "dog, cat" as
they might not have articles or conjunctions in their vocabulary. Similarly, this
occurs with sentence structures as well.
Recalling Sentences is generally a close predictor of whether a student has an SLI.
How do I administer the subtest?

The instructions for the subtest are on page 34 of the CELF-4 manual (annoying
isn't it? Why couldn't they have written it in the Stimulus Book?) On a basic level,
you read a sentence and the student repeats after you.
What do I need to record?

When the student repeats the sentence, how you record will depend on what
they say. If the student is:
• Going pretty well, mark in changes according to the editing symbols for
omission, repetition, addition, transposition and substitution.
• Not repeating many words from the sentence, write down what they say.
You can go back and decide the scores.
How do I score the assessment?

Scoring as you go can be a bit tricky to start off. If you are finding it hard to score,
then only score the sentences that you think having 4+ errors, so you know when
to discontinue the assessment (after 5 consecutive scores of zero).
Editing errors include those noted before:
• Omissions: leaving out a word

• Repetition: repeating a word or a phrase
• Addition: adding words or phrases

• Transposition: moving words/phrases (e.g, "girls and boys" vs "boys and
girls")
• Substitution: Substituting words and/or phrases

Similarly to other subtests, students may take a long time to respond. Again, you
can wait it out or ask them if they need more time (for only one question!).
In some cases, students may not replicate accurately because the language is in
their system, but because of either 1) echolalia or 2) phenomenal auditory
memory skills.
What can I report?

Maximum number of words or syllables, and the types of sentences/sentence
structures repeated (e.g., questions, statements, negative phrases). This may be
an indication of the student's range of working memory, vocabulary and/or
sentence structure.

FORMULATING SENTENCES

The Formulating Sentences subtests looks at a student's skill in generating
grammatically correct and relevant sentences using a variety of words.
How do I administer the subtest?

The instructions are provided in Stimulus Book 1. Essentially, students are
provided with a word that they need to use in their sentence, about the picture.
How do I score the assessment?

Use a tape recorder if you think it you will not be able to write down everything
the student says. With practice, and depending on the student, you should be
able to write and score (the majority of sentences) at the same time.
When scoring, the sentences must:
• Use the given stimulus word
• Be about the picture (even remotely)
• Must make logical sense
Violation of either automatically scores a 0 points.
If there are additional meaningful errors or grammatical errors, a total of 2 errors

is permitted, and will score 1 point. Three or more errors leads to 0 points.

The talker
I would say that the moment I dread the most about this assessment is the
"talker", the one that tells you a story for each picture. Yes, it's great expressive
language (maybe not pragmatics though!), but it can be hard and time consuming
to score. Sometimes you can hint to the student that you only need one
sentence. Mark only the sentences that contain the word, and use the sentence
with the greatest score. A mention about their pragmatics may be worthwhile.
Difficulty understanding the concept of the subtest
It always amazes me the number of words that are used to describe this subtest
to the student, given that many of our students have language delays. If your
student has trouble understanding the subtest, sometimes I will say "Tell me a
story about this picture using the word ___". Note this in the qualitative section of
the assessment.

INTERPRETING THE CELF-‐4 RESULTS
I have calculated the RLI and ELI. Now what?

After you explain the qualitative and quantitative sides of the CELF-4, the most
important section is when all the information is integrated: the client's history,
previous assessments, current presenting issues and the results from this
assessment.
Ensure that you include whether the results are representative of the student's
normal language skills, and if not, why not. Add some practical recommendations
for the teachers and parents.

FURTHER INFORMATION
Where can I find out more information?

Obviously, the CELF-4 manual!
Leaders Project (Columbia University)

http://www.leadersproject.org/2013/07/26/test-review-celf-4/

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JustAnotherSpeechie's Guide to the CELF-4 Page 1 of 19

Why was this guide written?

Who is this guide intended for?

JustAnotherSpeechie's Guide to the CELF-4 Page 2 of 19

What do I need to do before the session?

• Mark the section for Recalling Sentences administration. Some speechies

• Extra equipment might include: voice recorder, motivational

What should I tell the student about the assessment?

• Routine of work-play-work-play. Provide some choice with regards to

• Sometimes I will give the student a choice of a pointing or talking activity

What about the parents?

JustAnotherSpeechie's Guide to the CELF-4 Page 3 of 19

• It might be worth asking parents if they know what the assessment is

JustAnotherSpeechie's Guide to the CELF-4 Page 4 of 19

• The presenting problem: If a student is referred, then there is generally

• Age: Each subtest has a recommended age-range. Administer those

• Time constraints: Time constraints may not allow you to administer

In this guide, the CELF-4 assessment suggests the following subtests be

• Concepts & Following Directions (C&FD)

• Word Classes - Receptive (WC-R)

• Sentence Structure (SS)

JustAnotherSpeechie's Guide to the CELF-4 Page 5 of 19

Which subtests should I administer?

• Concepts & Following Directions (C&FD)

• Word Classes - Receptive (WC-R)

• Sentence Structure (SS)

What are the limitations of the Receptive Language Index?

• This assessment is ideally taken place in a quiet, 1:1 environment.

• As indicated previously, there is no assessment for listening and

JustAnotherSpeechie's Guide to the CELF-4 Page 6 of 19

What does this subtest test?

Why is this important to test?

What do I need to do?

• Which pictures the student pointed to

• The order in which the student pointed

What do I need to look out for?

• Waiting for "Go"

• Asking for repeats

Note whether the student is asking for a repeat due to environmental

JustAnotherSpeechie's Guide to the CELF-4 Page 7 of 19

• Taking a long time to answer

• Missing their answer

Scoring the subtest

• Check that you have indicated a 1 or 0 for every answer

• Draw a line underneath the seventh consecutive incorrect answer

• Add up all the answers up to this line

Which qualitative results should I report?

o Impulse control skills (e.g., waiting for "Go")

o Metacognitive skills (e.g., being able to identify if they knew an

• Consistency of results (e.g., always answering 2-step instructions

JustAnotherSpeechie's Guide to the CELF-4 Page 8 of 19

• Maximum number of key words that the student could follow

Annie displayed difficulty answering questions relating to the following concepts:

Annie answered questions of up to 6-key words and/or 3-steps correctly.

JustAnotherSpeechie's Guide to the CELF-4 Page 9 of 19

What does this subtest test?

Why is this important to test?

Vocabulary is also one of the 5 essential foundations in literacy skills. Therefore

What do I need to do?

What do I need to look out for?

What qualitative results should I report?

JustAnotherSpeechie's Guide to the CELF-4 Page 10 of 19